Narrative:

On final with strong northwest winds. Vectored aircraft X from northwest descended to 4000. I was vectoring aircraft Y from east side to go behind to set up a stagger. When aircraft X was at 5300 feet and aircraft Y was at 064 feet. I gave aircraft X 4000 again; then descended aircraft Y to 5000. I thought I would have 1000 feet easily with the way aircraft were descending that day. Unfortunately; I had to give aircraft X a speed reduction which I assume is why he leveled at 5000 and descended very slowly; while aircraft Y descended quickly. I lost my 3 miles/1000feet. Then aircraft X did not join the localizer as instructed. Aircraft X read the instruction to join back. I then broke out aircraft Y and called traffic. I would also like to mention that I got about 5 hours of sleep that night and the night before. The questionnaire asks how many hours I try to get; which is 8. But how much I actually get is usually between 5 and 6.also; before I took position; the supervisor handed me a paper with a name and number; my bank called about my mortgage. I was trying to figure out how to delay a payment because we had been furloughed and unpaid for 34 days or so; so I was distracted by that a little; because I was worried about what I was going to do since I was unpaid.I misapplied the altitude leaving rule. I didn't visually observe aircraft X leaving 5000 before I gave aircraft Y lower. I pressured myself into descending aircraft Y so he wouldn't be high on the approach; since it was IFR. I should have based aircraft Y a little later; and held altitude longer to guarantee I could use altitude leaving.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Seattle TRACON Controller reported a loss of separation due to a rule being misapplied as well as possible fatigue and distraction by the government furlough.

Narrative: On final with strong northwest winds. Vectored Aircraft X from NW descended to 4000. I was vectoring Aircraft Y from east side to go behind to set up a stagger. When Aircraft X was at 5300 feet and Aircraft Y was at 064 feet. I gave Aircraft X 4000 again; then descended Aircraft Y to 5000. I thought I would have 1000 feet easily with the way aircraft were descending that day. Unfortunately; I had to give Aircraft X a speed reduction which I assume is why he leveled at 5000 and descended very slowly; while Aircraft Y descended quickly. I lost my 3 miles/1000feet. Then Aircraft X did not join the localizer as instructed. Aircraft X read the instruction to join back. I then broke out Aircraft Y and called traffic. I would also like to mention that I got about 5 hours of sleep that night and the night before. The questionnaire asks how many hours I try to get; which is 8. But how much I actually get is usually between 5 and 6.Also; before I took position; the supervisor handed me a paper with a name and number; my bank called about my mortgage. I was trying to figure out how to delay a payment because we had been furloughed and unpaid for 34 days or so; so I was distracted by that a little; because I was worried about what I was going to do since I was unpaid.I misapplied the altitude leaving rule. I didn't visually observe Aircraft X leaving 5000 before I gave Aircraft Y lower. I pressured myself into descending Aircraft Y so he wouldn't be high on the approach; since it was IFR. I should have based Aircraft Y a little later; and held altitude longer to guarantee I could use altitude leaving.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.