Some federal workers can apply for unemployment. Some can’t.
Oct 22, 2025, 5:02 AM | Updated: 2:54 pm
A person fills out an unemployment benefits application. (Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
(Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
Their work is considered so essential that certain federal employees are required to stay on the job during the U.S. government shutdown, even though they’re not getting paid.
Oddly enough, if they were sent home without pay, they’d be able to apply for unemployment benefits through Washington state.
“For the folks who are going to work, and working without pay? They won’t be eligible for unemployment insurance because they’re working,” Donna Mack, the Rapid Response Manager for the state Employment Security Department (ESD), said.
Those include workers such as air traffic controllers, some federal law enforcement agents, disaster response workers, and more.
Both furloughed and essential workers will likely receive back pay once the government reopens, and then any jobless benefits received would need to be paid back.
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Webinar to help federal workers navigate unemployment benefits
It’s all a little confusing, and it’s why the ESD is holding a webinar on Thursday, October 23, to help federal workers navigate the state and local resources available to them. Those interested can register here.
Mack said experts will discuss unemployment benefits, options for health care coverage, career training and education programs, as well as other local resources.
“What you’re going to find in your community if you need food assistance, or assistance with power bills, that sort of thing,” Mack explained.
The virtual meeting aims to cover a wide range of topics because the effects of the shutdown are so broad.
“I’ll be really curious to see who comes to this event,” Mack said.
She said it could appeal to several groups of people, not only workers who’ve been furloughed and essential workers who are still on the job.
“We may have a group of state workers who are impacted by federal funding ending — at least briefly — while the government is shut down and who are being furloughed,” Mack said. “And then I think that we may have a group of people who have received some sort of layoff notices.”
Finally, family members of federal workers may be looking for guidance on how to reenter the workforce or change jobs, as the shutdown lingers on.
The ESD estimates that up to 80,000 workers in Washington state are being impacted.
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