Correct. They only do this for government employees not contractors. Contractors don't get paid. I went through the shutdown back in the 90s as a contractor

Correct. They only do this for government employees not contractors. Contractors don't get paid. I went through the shutdown back in the 90s as a contractor working at the Whitehouse and we all got sent home without pay. If you had saved up vacation you could use that, otherwise you didn't get paid and there was no back pay for the furlough period. We basically got laid off for that time period, whereas the government employees got a paid vacation.