Federal employees in Colorado who have been required to work without pay during the partial government shutdown will be able to apply for unemployment benefits, Gov. Jared Polis said Friday.

The shutdown, which started Dec. 22 and shows no signs of ending anytime soon, has affected roughly 15,000 federal workers in Colorado. But until Friday’s announcement, only furloughed workers could file jobless claims.

Those whose positions are classified as essential – including Transportation Safety Administration screeners at airports, immigration agents and federal prison guards – have been required to show up for work but were considered ineligible for state unemployment benefits.

“Those federal employees who are required to report for work are feeling the same economic squeeze as those who have been furloughed,” Polis said in a statement. “They should not be denied the immediate financial assistance provided by unemployment benefits while being mandated to show up to work.” 

According to the governor’s office, 2,416 federal workers have filed unemployment claims. Most of the affected federal workers didn’t get paychecks a week ago.

Federal workers who qualify for state unemployment benefits during the shutdown will have to pay the money back after they’ve returned to work and received retroactive pay, the governors office said.

Nationwide, more than half of the approximately 800,000 affected federal workers fall in the “essential” category and have been on the job since the shutdown began.

Earlier this week, the Trump administration expanded the category to include tens of thousands of Internal Revenue Service employees needed to begin processing income tax returns.

President Trump and congressional Democrats remained in a standoff this week over Trump’s demand for more than $5 billion to build a wall along the country’s southern border with Mexico.

Polis’ office said workers can apply for benefits and find more information at www.coloradoui.gov. There’s a mandatory one-week waiting period after filing a claim before it can be activated. In addition, federal workers are considered “job attached,” so aren’t required to conduct job searches while receiving benefits.