I Excepted or furloughed
Two categories, and the difference is about whether you report — not about whether you are eventually paid.
| Excepted | Furloughed | |
|---|---|---|
| You work | Yes, required | No — prohibited |
| Paid during | No | No |
| Status | Duty, unpaid | Non-duty, non-pay |
No email, no calls, no working from home, and no volunteering unpaid. The bar comes from the Antideficiency Act’s restriction on accepting voluntary services, not from any doubt about willingness. Employees who are not excepted may perform only the minimal activities needed for an orderly suspension of operations.
Excepted employees keep earning overtime and holiday premium pay in the ordinary way, payable once appropriations are enacted. Keep your own record of hours — the systems that normally track them may themselves be affected.
II The leave rule
This is the one that catches people, and it is categorical.
OPM’s position
Being on paid leave is not among the activities necessary to execute an orderly shutdown of agency operations.
So annual leave approved months ago, falling inside the lapse, is cancelled rather than honoured. The strategy of taking leave to bridge the gap does not exist — the money is not obligatable regardless of your balance.
If you were counting on a use-or-lose window that a lapse swallows, that is a separate problem worth raising with your HR office early rather than at the end of the leave year.
III Exposure Estimator
What Would a Lapse Cost Me?
IV Back pay, and the dispute
The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 (P.L. 116-1) provides that each employee furloughed as a result of a covered lapse shall be paid for the period of the lapse, and that each excepted employee required to perform work shall be paid for that work at their standard rate.
It was enacted after the 35-day 2018–19 shutdown, replacing the previous practice under which Congress had to authorise furloughed employees’ back pay after each individual lapse.
During the October 2025 lapse, OMB removed the reference to the 2019 Act from its guidance and took the position that back pay for furloughed employees was not automatic and would require congressional authorisation. That reading was disputed by members of both parties and was inconsistent with OPM’s own standing guidance, which stated that a furloughed employee must be paid for furlough periods during the lapse.
Congress subsequently passed language reiterating that agencies shall pay employees as the 2019 Act provides.
The practical lesson is not about who was right. It is that the timing and certainty of back pay became a live question during a lapse, while employees were already going unpaid. Plan on the gap being real.
The statute provides for payment as soon as possible after the lapse ends, regardless of scheduled pay dates — not on a fixed timetable. Actual arrival depends on your payroll provider.
V What keeps running
| Benefit | During a lapse |
|---|---|
| FEHB | Continues. Your share accumulates, withheld after the lapse |
| FEDVIP | Continues. Not cancelled for non-payment |
| Qualifying life events | You can still enrol or change enrolment |
So coverage does not lapse — but expect a larger than usual deduction once pay resumes, because several pay periods of premiums come out together. That compounds the cash-flow problem exactly when it is least welcome, and it surprises people who assumed back pay would arrive whole.
VI Preparing for one
The useful planning number is not whether back pay eventually arrives. It is how many weeks you can meet obligations without it.
The December 2018 partial shutdown ran 35 days. The October 2025 full shutdown ran 43 days, the longest on record. A reserve sized to a two-week gap is sized to the wrong event.
Two things worth doing while you are being paid normally: know your excepted status in advance, because agencies designate positions rather than deciding in the moment; and understand that a TSP loan is repaid through payroll deduction, so it is a weaker bridge during a lapse than it looks — and contributions and the agency match stop while pay does.
Before the next one
- Find out whether your position is designated excepted.
- Size a cash reserve against six weeks, not two.
- Do not plan on using annual leave — it is cancelled during a lapse.
- Know your FEHB share per pay period and what it accumulates to.
- If excepted, keep your own record of hours worked.
- Identify which fixed obligations fall inside a typical lapse window.
- Understand that back pay timing is not knowable in advance.
- Check your agency’s own lapse guidance page — they differ in detail.
Questions
No. OPM's shutdown furlough guidance is explicit that all paid leave and other paid time off is cancelled during a period when a lapse in appropriations is in effect, because there is no authority to obligate funds for paid time off during a lapse. Approved annual leave that falls inside the lapse is cancelled rather than honoured. Being on paid leave is not among the minimal activities permitted to execute an orderly suspension of operations.
An excepted employee is required to continue working during the lapse and is not paid for that work until appropriations are enacted. A furloughed employee is placed in a non-duty, non-pay status and may not work at all, including from home and including voluntarily. Neither group receives pay during the lapse itself. The distinction is about whether you report, not about whether you are eventually compensated.
The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019, Public Law 116-1, provides that each employee furloughed as a result of a covered lapse shall be paid for the period of the lapse, and that each excepted employee required to perform work shall be paid for that work at their standard rate of pay. During the 2025 lapse the Office of Management and Budget removed references to that law from its guidance and argued that back pay for furloughed employees was not automatic, a position disputed by members of both parties and inconsistent with OPM's own guidance. Congress subsequently passed language reiterating that agencies shall pay employees as the 2019 Act provides.
The statute provides for payment as soon as possible after the lapse ends, regardless of scheduled pay dates, rather than on a fixed timetable. In practice agencies and payroll providers process it over one or more pay cycles following enactment, and the precise timing depends on your payroll provider rather than on anything you can influence. Plan your own finances on the assumption that the gap is real and its end date is not knowable in advance.
No. FEHB coverage continues during a lapse. The enrollee share of the premium accumulates while you are not being paid and is withheld from your pay once the lapse ends, so expect a larger than usual deduction afterwards rather than a loss of coverage. FEDVIP coverage also continues and is not cancelled for non-payment of premiums during a lapse. If you experience a qualifying life event during the lapse you can still enrol or change enrolment.
Excepted employees are paid for earned overtime and holiday premium pay when appropriations are enacted, alongside their basic pay for the work performed. Because excepted employees are working during the lapse, they continue to earn these entitlements in the ordinary way even though nothing is paid at the time. Keep your own record of hours worked during a lapse rather than relying entirely on systems that may themselves be affected.
No. A furloughed employee is in a non-duty status and may not perform work, and that includes checking email, taking calls and working voluntarily without expecting payment. The prohibition exists because the Antideficiency Act restricts accepting voluntary services, not because anyone doubts your willingness. Employees who are not excepted may perform only the minimal activities necessary to execute an orderly suspension of operations.
The partial shutdown that began in December 2018 ran 35 days, and the full shutdown that began in October 2025 ran 43 days, making it the longest on record. Those figures are worth holding in mind when planning a personal cash reserve, because the practical question is not whether back pay eventually arrives but whether you can meet obligations for six weeks or more without it.