The tiny Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in Seattle's historic Pioneer Square neighborhood is posted with a closed sign as part of the federal government shutdown Dec. 26, 2018. AP Photo: Elaine Thompson

While many federal agencies have been scaled back or completely stopped doing business because of the government shutdown, some agencies are still open for business.

President Donald Trump told Congress that he would not sign a stop-gap funding measure unless it included funds for a southern border between the United States and Mexico. Since the measure didn't include funds for a wall, the third government shutdown of 2018 began at 12:01 a.m. Dec. 22. The president has taken to Twitter since the shutdown to indicate that he will not compromise.

With no immediate end in sight, what does this mean for employers?

“Because of the peculiarities of the federal budget process, this shutdown has not hit the nation's employers as hard as prior shutdown events,” according to a blog posted by employment law firm Fisher Phillips on Thursday.

In September, Trump signed a “minibus” bill that funded certain agencies through Oct. 1, 2019, therefore the U.S. Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board will be operational during the shutdown, according to the law firm.

Wage-and-hour compliance matters, federal contract compliance matters and labor relations issues can proceed normally for the most part.

Companies seeking to apply for a new patent or trademark also can continue business as usual. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office indicated that it will be staying open because of the funds it gets from fee collection, at least for now. But: “Should the USPTO exhaust these funds before a partial government shutdown comes to an end, the agency would have to shut down at that time, although a small staff would continue to work to accept new applications and maintain IT infrastructure, among other functions,” the USPTO said on its website.

The Department of Homeland Security and its sub-agencies are open, including the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that handles most immigration processes, because it is a fee-based agency.

But employers will not be able to use E-Verify to check the backgrounds of prospective employees against records from the Department of Homeland Security. During this time, employers may not take “adverse action” against an employee because the E-Verify case is in an interim case status, however, according to Fisher Phillips.

Employees also won't be able to resolve E-Verify Tentative Nonconfirmations during this period, which could present a hardship for some employers as well as their workers.

Employment discrimination enforcement will be at a standstill during the shutdown. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC) operations have been scaled back from 2,000 employees to only having 103 staffers working nationwide. As a result, a very limited number of EEOC services are available during the shutdown, according to Fisher Phillips.

Also, because the lawyers at the U.S. Department of Justice are on furlough, litigation is affected with civil cases stayed and deadlines postponed.

Read more:

Some Federal Judges Spurn DOJ's Push to Pause Cases During Shutdown

Trade Agencies Not Immune from Shutdown