CEO of cybersecurity company foregoes salary to pay workers during government shutdown

Moe Jafari, CEO of HumanTouch, is foregoing his salary in order to pay the company's workers their wages during the government's partial shutdown.

HumanTouch, a cybersecurity company in Tysons Corner, Virginia, depends on government contracts to pay its staff.

The cybersecurity and IT firm works to help secure the nation's infrastructure.

What are the details?

Jafari said that he would not be drawing a salary until the government reopened and HumanTouch staffers began receiving pay again.

The partial government shutdown entered its 25th day on Tuesday.

"Great people are hard to come by," Jafari told WUSA-TV on Monday. "We don't want to lose them."

The outlet reported that HumanTouch — which works with the Department of Defense — has approximately 20 federal contracts, and more than 200 contracted employees, WUSA reported.

Jafari explained that 10 percent of those contracted employees were at risk of losing their pay as a result of the partial government shutdown.

"I am foregoing my entire salary during this time period," Jafari told the outlet. "It affects a lot of people's lives, and that was the right thing to do."

Jafari isn't the company's only executive to lend a hand. According to WUSA, 10 other executives at the company will donate a day's pay on a weekly basis — all in order to help subsidize other employees' wages during the shutdown. The company is calling it a "furlough fund."

“I don't want the pat on the back. I don't want any of that. That's not the point. Again, this is something that we're doing because it means a lot to us," Jafari said.

WUSA reported that Jafari is simply "challenging other companies to step up to the plate and do the same to pay their employees until the government shutdown is over."