Two cafeteria workers who work in federal buildings Downtown have been suspended from their jobs after failing to pass background checks administered by the Department of Homeland Security.

The two women, who have a combined 44 years working in the cafeterias of the U.S. Courthouse and William Moorhead Federal Building, Downtown, were placed on administrative leave with pay last week.

The General Services Administration, which manages both buildings, requires all of its contracted vendors to have the checks done on their employees every five years.

This year, when Judy Miller, a cashier in the courthouse cafeteria, and Mary Broughton, a cook in the federal building, filled out their forms and had their fingerprints taken, something didn't check out.

Officials from Federal Protective Services, an agency under Homeland Security, declared the women "unsuitable" for their positions inside the federal buildings, and last Wednesday asked that they be removed.

The women, and their employer, Sodexho Inc., still don't know what is wrong, and Federal Protective Services won't elaborate.

"Both affected parties have been sent an official letter explaining the procedure for them to follow in the matter," an official with the agency said in a statement. "We are waiting for their response."

Neither woman could be reached for comment, but a spokesperson for their employer said they are working to solve the problem.

"These are long-term employees," said Stacy Bowman-Hade. "We're trying to get to the bottom of what went wrong."

Sodexho officials have contacted U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle to see if he might be able to get answers more quickly.

"They are not fired," Ms. Bowman-Hade said. "They know we're doing everything we can to fix it."

The women are on paid leave for now. If the matter with Homeland Security gets sorted out, they will be allowed to return to their previous jobs. If not, Sodexho will allow them to transfer to another of its 25 accounts in the area.

Originally, when the unsuitable reports were returned to Sodexho, the government asked that the women be removed from their jobs immediately. But Sodexho asked that they be allowed to finish out the day so that the cafeterias could remain open. That was permitted.

But on Thursday and Friday, the cafeteria in the federal courthouse was forced to close so its remaining employee, Mariellen Fulham could move to the other building to work.

Ms. Fulham, who said they've contacted their union representative, is particularly angry about it.

Ms. Miller, a friendly fixture in the courthouse cafeteria who knows just about every returning customer by name, has worked for the company 20 years.

Ms. Broughton, who works behind the scenes in the kitchen, has been there for 24 years.

"These are my co-workers, and they've been done wrong," Ms. Fulham said. "It's the principle of the thing.

"You don't do something like this to somebody's life over a paper error."