# Will government workers who quit during the shutdown get backpay? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 25, 2019, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-government-workers-who-quit-during-the-shutdown-get-backpay/828399 "2019-01-25T16:03:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2019, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-government-workers-who-quit-during-the-shutdown-get-backpay/828399/1 "2019-01-25T16:03:11Z")
Did a bit of googling and couldn’t find a clear answer to this. If you walk off the job in the middle of the shutdown, can you then go back to the agency after the shutdown has ended and get your backpay or is the backpay only for workers who are still employed at the end? ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2019, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-government-workers-who-quit-during-the-shutdown-get-backpay/828399/2 "2019-01-25T17:41:47Z")
Just my guess so don’t take this as fighting ignorance. I don’t see any advantage for a person to “quit” in the middle of a layoff. It makes more sense to take another job and then “quit” the day that you are to report back to work after the layoff. Seems to me that it works even better if you can manage to show up on the first day back and turn in a resignation. The government has shut down before and surely someone has quit. I’m surprised that there is no info on that. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2019, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-government-workers-who-quit-during-the-shutdown-get-backpay/828399/3 "2019-01-25T17:53:39Z")
Yes. And it’s possible that the law could be interpreted that someone who quit during the shutdown may be eligible for pay for the entire duration of the shutdown, not just the time they were furloughed. > [@](#): > > “(2) Each employee of the United States Government or of a District of Columbia public employer furloughed as a result of a covered lapse in appropriations shall be paid for the period of the lapse in appropriations, and each excepted employee who is required to perform work during a covered lapse in appropriations shall be paid for such work, at the employee’s standard rate of pay, at the earliest date possible after the lapse in appropriations ends, regardless of scheduled pay dates. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2019, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-government-workers-who-quit-during-the-shutdown-get-backpay/828399/4 "2019-01-25T18:14:37Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > Just my guess so don’t take this as fighting ignorance. > > I don’t see any advantage for a person to “quit” in the middle of a layoff. It makes more sense to take another job and then “quit” the day that you are to report back to work after the layoff. > > Seems to me that it works even better if you can manage to show up on the first day back and turn in a resignation. > > The government has shut down before and surely someone has quit. I’m surprised that there is no info on that. I’m thinking mainly of TSA workers or the like who face the choice of either showing up to work that day or going driving for Uber or whatever. If they show up to work for the first 2 weeks and then stop showing up after that (either by officially tendering a resignation or just not being there), can they come back after the shutdown is over and ask for their 2 weeks of backpay? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2019, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-government-workers-who-quit-during-the-shutdown-get-backpay/828399/5 "2019-01-25T18:51:39Z")
The answer is generally yes. For the odd cases, I smell lawsuits. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2019, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-government-workers-who-quit-during-the-shutdown-get-backpay/828399/6 "2019-01-26T04:24:27Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > If you walk off the job in the middle of the shutdown, can you then go back to the agency after the shutdown has ended and get your backpay or is the backpay only for workers who are still employed at the end? Fed checking in … [ol] [li]If the intent is to quit right then and there by walking off of the job, the employee would be paid with backpay up to that point.[/li][li]If the intent is to just walk off the job as a sign of protest but still desire to be retained by the agency (calling the agency’s bluff), the employee will be charged with AWOL, pending termination if the agency managers are assholes.[/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2019, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-government-workers-who-quit-during-the-shutdown-get-backpay/828399/7 "2019-01-26T12:05:49Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Yes. And it’s possible that the law could be interpreted that someone who quit during the shutdown may be eligible for pay for the entire duration of the shutdown, not just the time they were furloughed. That law applies to future shutdowns, as well. As we may find out in three weeks.