Patent examiners are still getting paid, and at least for now, our paychecks will be on time.

If we have to close our doors, then we will be in the same boat as the rest of the federal employees who are already furloughed – no paychecks until the shutdown ends. And back pay isn’t automatic, but is instead contingent on whether Congress approves it.

The people getting hosed in this situation (and across the agencies affected by the shutdown) are our contractors, who do various tasks in computer support, mailroom, office management, etc. Their employers won’t be on the hook to pay their employees for hours not worked, even if Congress approves back pay for federal employees.

As for the backlog, yes, it would increase. Examiners would generally not be affected in terms of their production, since the denominator is the number of hours worked, and furloughed examiners would log a big goose egg there. There are various other situations in terms of examiner performance that could potentially be affected, but there are ways to deal with those as well.