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What Happens to Federal Employee Pay During a Government Shutdown?
Sep 23, 2025
How does a government shutdown impact your pay and benefits as a federal employee? Related Articles Navigating Pay and Benefits During a Government Shutdown https://www.fedsmith.com/2025/09/22/navigating-pay-and-benefits-during-a-government-shutdown/ Government Shutdown Approaches as Senate Democrats Block GOP Spending Bill https://www.fedsmith.com/2025/09/19/government-shutdown-approaches/ Chapters 0:00 Introduction 0:39 Employee categories 2:37 You will get paid! 4:15 How is pay computed? 5:32Annual leave 6:39 Conclusion
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0:00
Hello everyone, Ian Smith here with
0:02
fedsmith.com here to talk to you today
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about government shutdowns and
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specifically how they impact your pay
0:09
and benefits as a federal employee. I've
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got a short presentation here I'm going
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to go through with you to hit some of
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the high points of this topic that I
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think you're going to want to know
0:18
about. But before I do that, let me just
0:20
say upfront, you will get paid if there
0:23
is a government shutdown. You will get
0:25
paid. I'm guessing that's what most of
0:27
you watching want to know more than
0:28
anything. So I did I did want to say
0:31
that upfront. There might be a delay in
0:33
when you get paid, but you you are
0:35
guaranteed to be paid. So with that, let
0:38
me get into it. So there's two
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categories.
0:42
Well, three categories, I guess.
0:44
Accepted, meaning work continues.
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Um those agencies are funded by annual
0:50
appropriations bills. However, um
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the federal employees in in this
0:57
scenario will continue working. This is
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the quote unquote essential work
1:02
due to the nature of their jobs and
1:06
exempt is the second kind. Those are
1:08
agencies that are funded outside of
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annual appropriation. So it's basically
1:13
business as usual for these agencies.
1:15
They're not impacted.
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And then neither accepted nor exempt.
1:20
These are the federal employees who get
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furled if they fall into this category.
1:25
And like I said, accepted employees,
1:28
they perform uh tasks that are legally
1:31
allowed during a shutdown. They have to
1:34
report to work and they are paid, albeit
1:36
retroactively. A good example would be
1:38
the Social Security Administration. If
1:41
there's a government shutdown, people
1:42
don't just stop getting their Social
1:44
Security payments. So, the federal
1:46
employees who handle those payments have
1:49
to report to work.
1:51
exempt employees. Like I said, these are
1:54
agencies that are funded by other means.
1:58
They're not affected by or they're
2:00
funded by non-appropriated sources. So,
2:03
business as usual essentially. A good
2:05
example would be the post office.
2:08
And then employees who get furoughed,
2:10
they're not allowed to work.
2:12
And your agency will notify you if
2:15
that's the case. and they'll give you
2:17
status updates of when you have to come
2:19
to work. And um and the only work that
2:23
might be done is minimal
2:26
wrap-up type tasks to close the doors
2:29
and walk out. That kind of thing. Just
2:31
anything that has to be done to to
2:33
prepare for the shutdown. Basically,
2:37
as I said up front, you will get paid.
2:40
There may be a delay because of the
2:42
shutdown, but you are guaranteed to be
2:44
paid. This is because of the government
2:47
employee fair treatment act that became
2:49
law in 2019.
2:52
Prior to that,
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there was no guarantee that federal
2:56
employees would be paid in the event of
2:57
a shutdown. Usually they were, but that
3:00
made it more
3:02
stressful, no doubt, for federal
3:04
employees because um Congress had to
3:07
authorize it in each instance. Now it's
3:10
just guaranteed. The only catch is it it
3:15
it's back pay. So until the shutdown's
3:18
over, you're not going to get paid even
3:19
if you're working. Like I said, the
3:21
timing it's um after the shutdown ends
3:25
and so you'll be paid as soon as
3:27
possible after that time. So there may
3:30
be a delay. And honestly, that's why
3:33
it's a good idea to have an emergency
3:35
fund in case this happens. It's one of
3:38
those examples of life happens.
3:40
sometimes your car breaks down, there's
3:42
a government shutdown, it's that kind of
3:44
thing. Um, most financial advisors will
3:47
recommend three to six months of of
3:50
expenses be covered with an emergency
3:52
fund. Um that's kind of beyond the scope
3:55
of this presentation, but it it's just
3:59
um worth noting because it's always good
4:02
to have an emergency fund for things
4:04
like this again because you will get
4:06
paid, but there may be a delay in it and
4:09
that can be very hard for for some
4:10
people obviously because you're counting
4:12
on that that steady check.
4:15
So how is your pay computed if you're a
4:18
furled employee? you get your basic pay
4:21
and any overtime and premium pay for
4:23
work you would have done and um it's
4:27
computed at the standard rate of pay
4:29
it's called which is u the pay that you
4:32
would have received for um work done
4:35
during the laps and appropriations and
4:38
by the way I meant to say all of this
4:39
information is from the office of
4:41
personnel management and their guidance
4:43
on shutdown furlows and uh employees
4:46
will receive their regular basic pay for
4:48
furlow hours as as if they had been in
4:51
pay status. There's no leave charge. So,
4:54
retroactive pay is provided without
4:56
charging paid leave or other paid time
4:58
off.
5:00
And um furlow hours count as time and
5:03
pay status for leave acral benefits
5:07
and any within grade increases. So, you
5:10
will keep accumulating leave it that's
5:12
not interrupted.
5:14
and employees scheduled for overtime,
5:16
night shifts, or other premium pay
5:18
receive those payments retroactively as
5:21
well. So that's not interrupted.
5:24
And um allowances and differentials such
5:27
as law enforcement availability pay are
5:29
paid as if the work had occurred.
5:33
As far as annual and sick leave go, um
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if you had any previously scheduled
5:38
leave before the shutdown, that's
5:41
canled.
5:42
And any use or lose annual leave must be
5:45
restored after the shutdown ends.
5:48
And any acred leave, as I mentioned, is
5:51
credited after the shutdown ends. So you
5:53
don't have to worry about that being
5:55
disrupted. Accepted employees can
5:58
request paid leave, although OPM notes
6:01
that this is not the preferred method
6:05
because if you have an improved absence
6:07
during a shutdown, you'll be furoughed
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and so you won't be charged any leave.
6:11
And so OPM basically says that's the way
6:14
to go. That way you don't use any lose
6:16
any of your leave or have to use it.
6:19
But uh you do have to have your absence
6:22
approved because any unauthorized
6:23
absences during a shutdown may result in
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awall status absent without leave. And
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if you have any questions about your
6:32
situation and how your leave would work,
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um you can contact your HR office or
6:37
your supervisor for more information. I
6:40
hope you found this helpful and thank
6:41
you for taking the time to watch. I want
6:43
to mention also, please also be sure to
6:46
to visit the fedsmith.com website
6:48
because we have articles that go into a
6:50
lot more detail on this as well as other
6:52
topics that are of interest to both
6:55
current and former federal employees.
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So, please be sure to check that out.
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And also remember to like and subscribe
7:01
to the channel so you'll be notified of
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future updates. Thank you for watching
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and have a good day.
#Government