Is it fair, after a government shutdown, for gov't employees get "back pay" for sleeping in and lounging around the house watching TV?

If they are salaried, yes.

Yes, since they are salaried employees who made themselves available to work as scheduled.

Just like teachers get paid if the school is closed due to snow.

The 18% of government folks who have been furloughed are categorized as non-essentials. Sounds like they are fortunate to have jobs at all.

Yup. Except for the congress members.

Nope, in the real world people don't get paid for that. Unless of course they are libs living off of EBT.

Is it fair for government employees to lose pay because the legislators can't act like adults and agree on something?

What have you done today to make this country a better place? And posting complaints on Yahoo Answers does not count.