OPM: After the lapse in appropriations has ended, employees who were furloughed as the result of the lapse will receive retroactive pay for those furlough periods. Image: TJ Brown/Shutterstock.com
By: Nancy SegalThere are two kinds of furloughs, administrative and shutdown.
An administrative furlough is a planned event by an agency which is designed to absorb reductions necessitated by downsizing, reduced funding, lack of work, or any budget situation other than a lapse in appropriations. Furloughs that would potentially result from sequestration would generally be considered administrative furloughs.
A shutdown furlough (also called an emergency furlough) occurs when there is a lapse in appropriations, and can occur at the beginning of a fiscal year, if no funds have been appropriated for that year, or upon expiration of a continuing resolution, if a new continuing resolution or appropriations law is not passed. In a shutdown furlough, an affected agency would have to shut down any activities funded by annual appropriations that are not excepted by law.
Typically, an agency will have very little to no lead time to plan and implement a shutdown furlough, although in the current case there was a long lead up and many had anticipated at least a brief, partial shutdown. Already it’s the longest since 2018 – 2019.
The Office of Personnel Management issued Shutdown Guidance on September 28, 2025.
Highlights of that guidance includes that a furlough puts employees in temporary nonduty, nonpay status.
Employees may use government equipment during a shutdown to:
- Access their personal employee records;
- Complete a background investigation;
- Check the status of the shutdown furlough;
- Check for any Reduction in Force (RIF) updates, or provide additional RIF information;
- Update personal contact information; and,
- Complete or submit Federal Employee Health Benefit changes or submit a retirement application.
Not all employees are subject to furloughs. This can include employees whose functions are not funded by annual appropriated funds, work involving the safety of human life of the or the protection of property.
This can become quite nuanced; agency legal counsel, working with senior agency managers, determine which employees are designated to be handling “excepted” and “non-excepted” functions.
Further, employees may be required to perform excepted work activities during part of a lapse period and furloughed for the rest of the time.
The White House has begun to question whether furloughed employees are entitled to backpay in order to increase pressure on Democrats. The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 – signed by Trump – requires that furloughed employees received backpay. Members of Congress from both parties have reaffirmed their belief that furloughed employees will receive backpay, while Trump implied that some employees – “our people” – would receive it, while others may not.
OPM meanwhile has not changed its guidance as to whether furloughed employees will get paid: “After the lapse in appropriations has ended, employees who were furloughed as the result of the lapse will receive retroactive pay for those furlough periods. (See 31 U.S.C. 1341(c)(2).) Retroactive pay will be provided on the earliest date possible after the lapse ends, regardless of scheduled pay dates. (See 31 U.S.C. 1341(c)(2).) If retroactive pay cannot be provided by the normal pay date for the given pay period, it will be provided as soon as possible thereafter. Retroactive pay is provided at the employee’s “standard rate of pay.”
Nancy H. Segal is a federal job search expert. Following her own senior-level federal HR career, she founded Solutions for the Workplace LLC to provide a HR management perspective to astute applicants to U.S. government positions.
5 Steps to Protect Your Federal Job During the Shutdown
Over 30K TSP Accounts Have Crossed the Million Mark in 2025
The Best Ages for Federal Employees to Retire
Best States to Retire for Federal Retirees: 2025
Primer: Early out, buyout, reduction in force (RIF)
See also,
OPM Guidance Addresses Pay Issues arising During, After Shutdown
FERS Retirement Guide 2025 – Your Roadmap to Maximizing Federal Retirement Benefits
