Shutdown and RIF Clarifications

We have heard a lot of misinformation circulating about how a government shutdown might affect the possibility of a Reduction and Force (RIF). The bottom line is: a government shutdown does not result in automatic RIFs, nor does it give agencies any new authority or obligation to conduct RIFs.

The Sept. 24, 2025 “memo” from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is nothing more than a ploy to scare federal employees and Congress by attempting to connect layoffs to a government shutdown. The memo only tells agencies to “consider” issuing RIF notices to employees working on programs whose funding has lapsed, because OMB doesn’t have the authority to require RIF notices. This advice is nothing new – the White House and OMB have been trying to pressure agencies to conduct mass layoffs and RIFs since February. Agencies already have a certain amount of authority to conduct RIFs (although only legal with Congressional buy-in), but a shutdown doesn’t give them any more authority to do so. In fact, a shutdown could actually make RIFs harder to conduct. The White House wants a so-called “clean” continuing resolution (CR) to justify continuing to dismantle the government piecewise, and they’re trying to use this memo to intimidate Congress into giving them what they want. But this memo doesn’t actually change anything. On a separate note of clarification, even a “clean” CR does not make it legal for the White House or OMB to withhold funds specified by Congress in the CR. If OMB were to do so, this would still constitute an illegal impoundment of funds.

A government shutdown furlough is also different from a “furlough” as part of a RIF, and one type doesn’t cause the other. Although people often use the term “RIF” to refer to layoffs or involuntary separations from federal service, remember that it stands for “Reduction In Force”, not “involuntary separation.” The RIF regulations actually cover a broad range of actions an agency might take to permanently or temporarily reduce spending on personnel - not just layoffs, but also demotions and certain reassignments. Another way to temporarily reduce personnel is through planned involuntary unpaid time off, known as an “administrative furlough.” When this is done for more than 30 days, it is considered “a RIF action” and has to follow RIF procedures (e.g. using a retention register, rules for who gets furloughed first), but it does not mean people are automatically involuntarily separated. It might actually reduce the likelihood of anyone being permanently separated. For example, imagine an office of ten people suffers a funding cut of 10%. They could deal with that funding cut by laying off one person, or they could force half the office to take off one day a week unpaid, which would also reduce the total work hours by 10% but let everyone keep their job. When that kind of furlough is planned to last more than 30 days, the agency has to go through RIF procedures (using a retention register, etc.) to decide which people to furlough. In this type of administrative furlough, nobody gets back pay since the point is to save money.

A shutdown furlough is different – it’s not planned in advance and furlough notices can only be valid for up to 30 days. There is no current legal pathway for a shutdown furlough to automatically turn into any kind of “RIF action,” whether that be an administrative furlough or an involuntary separation. A shutdown furlough happens because the money to pay federal employees hasn’t been appropriated yet, but under the Government Employees Fair Treatment Act of 2019, all affected civil servants (whether furloughed or excepted) are due back pay. A shutdown that lasts for more than 30 days does not lead to involuntary separation under current legal frameworks. The shutdown that began in December 2018 lasted 35 days, and nobody got laid off because of it. The agency did have to issue a second round of shutdown furlough notification letters because the original ones had expired after 30 days.