diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/worker/SingleplexWorker.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/worker/SingleplexWorker.java
index dbe0c494db3f11..3edce2c3227b6f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/worker/SingleplexWorker.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/worker/SingleplexWorker.java
@@ -120,24 +120,12 @@ void putRequest(WorkRequest request) throws IOException {
   @Override
   WorkResponse getResponse(int requestId) throws IOException, InterruptedException {
     recordingInputStream.startRecording(4096);
-    // Ironically, we don't allow interrupts during dynamic execution, since we can't cancel
-    // the worker short of destroying it.
-    if (!workerKey.isSpeculative()) {
-      while (recordingInputStream.available() == 0) {
-        try {
-          Thread.sleep(10);
-        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
-          // This should only happen when not in dynamic execution, so we can safely kill the
-          // worker.
-          destroy();
-          throw e;
-        }
-        if (!process.isAlive()) {
-          throw new IOException(
-              String.format(
-                  "Worker process for %s died while waiting for response",
-                  workerKey.getMnemonic()));
-        }
+    while (recordingInputStream.available() == 0) {
+      Thread.sleep(10);
+      if (!process.isAlive()) {
+        throw new IOException(
+            String.format(
+                "Worker process for %s died while waiting for response", workerKey.getMnemonic()));
       }
     }
     return workerProtocol.getResponse();
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/worker/WorkerSpawnRunner.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/worker/WorkerSpawnRunner.java
index 437a59b64f88b7..a810be5a2928f3 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/worker/WorkerSpawnRunner.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/worker/WorkerSpawnRunner.java
@@ -454,6 +454,10 @@ WorkResponse execInWorker(
 
         try {
           response = worker.getResponse(request.getRequestId());
+        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
+          finishWorkAsync(key, worker, request);
+          worker = null;
+          throw e;
         } catch (IOException e) {
           restoreInterrupt(e);
           // If protobuf or json reader couldn't parse the response, try to print whatever the
@@ -511,6 +515,41 @@ WorkResponse execInWorker(
     return response;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Starts a thread to collect the response from a worker when it's no longer of interest.
+   *
+   * <p>This can happen either when we lost the race in dynamic execution or the build got
+   * interrupted. This takes ownership of the worker for purposes of returning it to the worker
+   * pool.
+   */
+  private void finishWorkAsync(WorkerKey key, Worker worker, WorkRequest request) {
+    Thread reaper =
+        new Thread(
+            () -> {
+              Worker w = worker;
+              try {
+                w.getResponse(request.getRequestId());
+              } catch (IOException | InterruptedException e1) {
+                // If this happens, we either can't trust the output of the worker, or we got
+                // interrupted while handling being interrupted. In the latter case, let's stop
+                // trying and just destroy the worker. If it's a singleplex worker, there will
+                // be a dangling response that we don't want to keep trying to read, so we destroy
+                // the worker.
+                try {
+                  workers.invalidateObject(key, w);
+                  w = null;
+                } catch (IOException | InterruptedException e2) {
+                  // The reaper thread can't do anything useful about this.
+                }
+              } finally {
+                if (w != null) {
+                  workers.returnObject(key, w);
+                }
+              }
+            });
+    reaper.start();
+  }
+
   private static void restoreInterrupt(IOException e) {
     if (e instanceof InterruptedIOException) {
       Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/worker/ExampleWorker.java b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/worker/ExampleWorker.java
index 471218c060dbda..353efa617138cb 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/worker/ExampleWorker.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/worker/ExampleWorker.java
@@ -35,8 +35,11 @@
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Random;
 import java.util.UUID;
+import java.util.concurrent.Semaphore;
 import java.util.regex.Matcher;
 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
+import sun.misc.Signal;
+import sun.misc.SignalHandler;
 
 /** An example implementation of a worker process that is used for integration tests. */
 public class ExampleWorker {
@@ -79,6 +82,23 @@ private static void runPersistentWorker(ExampleWorkerOptions workerOptions) thro
     PrintStream originalStdOut = System.out;
     PrintStream originalStdErr = System.err;
 
+    if (workerOptions.waitForSignal) {
+      Semaphore signalSem = new Semaphore(0);
+      Signal.handle(
+          new Signal("HUP"),
+          new SignalHandler() {
+            @Override
+            public void handle(Signal sig) {
+              signalSem.release();
+            }
+          });
+      try {
+        signalSem.acquire();
+      } catch (InterruptedException e) {
+        System.out.println("Interrupted while waiting for signal");
+        e.printStackTrace();
+      }
+    }
     ExampleWorkerProtocol workerProtocol = null;
     switch (workerOptions.workerProtocol) {
       case JSON:
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/worker/ExampleWorkerOptions.java b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/worker/ExampleWorkerOptions.java
index 40d6faa5811b4a..440717916a3fd4 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/worker/ExampleWorkerOptions.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/worker/ExampleWorkerOptions.java
@@ -135,6 +135,14 @@ public static class ExampleWorkOptions extends OptionsBase {
   )
   public boolean hardPoison;
 
+  @Option(
+      name = "wait_for_signal",
+      documentationCategory = OptionDocumentationCategory.UNCATEGORIZED,
+      effectTags = {OptionEffectTag.NO_OP},
+      defaultValue = "false",
+      help = "Don't send a response until receiving a SIGXXXX.")
+  public boolean waitForSignal;
+
   /** Enum converter for --worker_protocol. */
   public static class WorkerProtocolEnumConverter
       extends EnumConverter<ExecutionRequirements.WorkerProtocolFormat> {
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/worker/WorkerTest.java b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/worker/WorkerTest.java
index f7537692c50a18..a7f22586712e97 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/worker/WorkerTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/worker/WorkerTest.java
@@ -174,11 +174,6 @@ private void verifyGetResponseFailure(String responseString, String expectedErro
     assertThat(ex).hasMessageThat().contains(expectedError);
   }
 
-  @Test
-  public void testGetResponse_json_emptyString_throws() throws IOException {
-    verifyGetResponseFailure("", "Could not parse json work request correctly");
-  }
-
   @Test
   public void testGetResponse_badJson_throws() throws IOException {
     verifyGetResponseFailure(