These women returned to their government jobs. But they won’t receive back pay.

Adapted from a story by The Washington Post’s Danielle Paquette.

Audrey Murray-Wright, a cleaning supervisor at the National Portrait Gallery, is one of more than a million federal contract workers nationwide whose income halted when the government partly shuttered for 35 days.

But unlike the 800,000 career public servants who are slated to receive full back pay over the next week or so, the contractors who clean, guard, cook and shoulder other jobs at federal workplaces aren’t legally guaranteed a single penny.

They’re also among the lowest-paid laborers in the government economy, generally earning between $450 and $650 weekly, union leaders say. And even as they began returning to work Monday, they were bracing for more pain. President Trump’s new deadline for Congress to earmark funding for his proposed border wall is Feb. 15. Agencies could close again if no deal is reached.

Trump announces deal for government to reopen for three weeks, ending longest shutdown in history

After the 16-day shutdown in 2013, approximately 850,000 federal workers collected compensation. About 1,200 cleaners, security guards and food-service workers in the Washington, D.C., area, however, received no makeup pay.

A group of Democratic senators introduced a bill last month aimed at changing that. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) have proposed legislation that would repay contractors up to $965 per week with public money and restore sick days used during the shutdown. (It’s unclear whether the bill will advance.)

Rationing groceries

Murray-Wright’s debt has been mounting: $156 for the gas bill, $300 for electricity, $2,000 for the mortgage. She could no longer afford her blood pressure pills. But what stung Audrey Murray-Wright most was rationing the groceries.

“I never, ever want to tell my son, ‘Don’t drink all that milk so you can save your brother some,’” she said, choking up.

Murray-Wright, who lives in Maryland and has worked at Smithsonian properties for 15 years, said seeing her name back on the schedule has brought little relief.

The shutdown is over. But its length left women at risk of domestic violence feeling trapped.

She clocks in again Tuesday but doesn’t expect a paycheck for at least another week. After her husband died last year of a heart attack, she has struggled to support her sons, ages 12 and 15.

“I don’t have any help. My electricity might be turned off any day now.”

‘She needs my help’

Julia Quintanilla, 55, who has worked for the past 27 years as a janitor at the Agriculture Department and other federal agencies, said she cashed in the last of her sick days during the shutdown to keep some income flowing.

Now she’s worried she won’t be able to care for her elderly mother with dementia without risking her job security.

“Her mental abilities are failing,” she said. “She needs my help.”

Quintanilla lost about $1,000 in savings during the shutdown, tumbled into a similar amount of debt and relied on churches for free meals. Her boss told her she’s not eligible for back pay, she said.

“They said, “Since you are contract workers, when the government shuts down, you’re going to stay home,’” she said. “There is no work.”

Playing catch-up

Loniece Hamilton, 25, another Smithsonian guard, said she watched about $1,000 disappear from her bank account during the budget stalemate. She’d started her job in May, figuring a government-tied position would be more stable.

“I thought it’d be better,” she said.

She borrowed money from her grandfather and cousin. She didn’t drive unless she was taking her 5-year-old son to school. And when he asked for his favorite cookies and juice at the store, she said: Next month.

Catching up, she estimates, could take two months.