Following the extensive U.S. government shutdown, beginning October 1, 2025, and ending November 12, 2025, federal workers and departments alike began to return to work after Congress set in place a new budget to end the government shutdown. After Congress passed the funding bill and President Donald Trump signed it, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memo directing agencies to resume normal operations November 13, 2025. 

“I think it’s a good thing that everything is starting to get back on track and reopening. During the shutdown, it impacted a lot of people and services that we depend on daily. It was definitely an experience. I recall going to the airport and seeing it empty and with the security just the gloom on their faces, knowing they didn’t know when they would be able to be paid or be financially stable. This showed me how it affects the lives of so many people, including the ones who rely on food stamps and other services,” magnet freshman Joanna Campbell said.

The government shutdown ended with around 1.4 million federal civilian employees lacking regular paychecks. During the 43 days of the shutdown, federal agencies classified their staff as either furloughed or essential, leading to workers who either experienced placement out of work or received suggestions to work without pay. Due to the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 (GEFTA), these workers hold the right to retroactive back pay. Rather than waiting for their next regularly scheduled paycheck, the government tries to back pay as soon as possible to ensure workers can provide for their families and return to a stable living condition.

Despite the urgency of compensating these workers, the government’s rollout of backpay seems uneven. As agencies prioritized payment processing in broader terms, paychecks began arriving the first week after funding resumed for numerous employees. Departments such as defense, public health and veterans services received the first sets of payments. In opposition to the high-staffed agencies, other understaffed or compact units lacked priority in payments, and employees in these departments reported delays of several weeks before they saw funds deposited.

“I would say it depends on who [which government workers] we are talking about [on whether furloughed employees would receive pay]. For the most part, we’re going to take care of our people. There are some people that really don’t deserve to be taken care of, and we’ll take care of them in a different way,” Trump said.

Outside of paying back workers, the government restart involved other administrative tasks, including updating timesheets, restoring benefit deductions and crediting leave time for furloughed workers. Agencies also needed to take employees who worked during the shutdown into account and calculate their overtime and premium pay into their compensation. This variation of furloughed and essential workers created a struggle as early compensation payments undercounted extra paid time, leading to additional work for returning employees.

Roughly, the physical load of the federal government resumed immediately after the administration’s return. As offices reopened, employees came back to find piles of unprocessed work from the weeks of the shutdown. For numerous agencies, normal operations still remain elusive as workers continue to try and hustle through untouched applications, delayed payments and reimbursements and the rest of the paperwork left on their desks during the shutdown. Returning government workers and agencies planned to prioritize their work based on importance and remain dedicated as the government catches up to normal operations. 

Workforce reductions that took place during the shutdown also complicated the recovery of the government. Several departments issued reduction-in-force notices, which left numerous employees uncertain about whether their positions in the workforce would survive. Although the funding bill required agencies to overturn layoffs issued since the government shutdown, departments could not follow through with this requirement. This uncertainty added to the financial strain and overall stress workers faced after 43 days without pay. 

For federal workers, returning to their jobs served as a step toward regaining financial stability. Close to the end of the shutdown, employees had exhausted their savings or begun to pick up debt as they lacked a stable income, but the back pay has assisted these workers in catching up and returning to their financial state. As of December 2025, almost all agencies resumed operations, a majority of employees received retroactive pay, and reinstated staff have returned to their posts, but a portion of employees still await a decision on their positions, and public services remain slow. As progress continues, the government plans to fully recover beginning in 2026.