diff --git a/src/toil/batchSystems/abstractGridEngineBatchSystem.py b/src/toil/batchSystems/abstractGridEngineBatchSystem.py
index 98b48945..f41b3d0c 100644
--- a/src/toil/batchSystems/abstractGridEngineBatchSystem.py
+++ b/src/toil/batchSystems/abstractGridEngineBatchSystem.py
@@ -45,20 +45,21 @@ class AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem(BatchSystemCleanupSupport):
     A partial implementation of BatchSystemSupport for batch systems run on a
     standard HPC cluster. By default auto-deployment is not implemented.
     """
+    class GridEngineThreadException(Exception):
+        pass
 
-    class Worker(Thread, metaclass=ABCMeta):
-
+    class GridEngineThread(Thread, metaclass=ABCMeta):
         def __init__(self, newJobsQueue: Queue, updatedJobsQueue: Queue, killQueue: Queue, killedJobsQueue: Queue, boss: 'AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem') -> None:
             """
-            Abstract worker interface class. All instances are created with five
+            Abstract thread interface class. All instances are created with five
             initial arguments (below). Note the Queue instances passed are empty.
 
             :param newJobsQueue: a Queue of new (unsubmitted) jobs
             :param updatedJobsQueue: a Queue of jobs that have been updated
             :param killQueue: a Queue of active jobs that need to be killed
-            :param killedJobsQueue: Queue of killed jobs for this worker
+            :param killedJobsQueue: Queue of killed jobs for this thread
             :param boss: the AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem instance that
-                         controls this AbstractGridEngineWorker
+                         controls this GridEngineThread
 
             """
             Thread.__init__(self)
@@ -77,6 +78,7 @@ class AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem(BatchSystemCleanupSupport):
             self.batchJobIDs: Dict[int, str] = dict()
             self._checkOnJobsCache = None
             self._checkOnJobsTimestamp = None
+            self.exception = None
 
         def getBatchSystemID(self, jobID: int) -> str:
             """
@@ -110,7 +112,7 @@ class AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem(BatchSystemCleanupSupport):
             """
             Create a new job with the given attributes.
 
-            Implementation-specific; called by AbstractGridEngineWorker.run()
+            Implementation-specific; called by GridEngineThread.run()
             """
             activity = False
             # Load new job id if present:
@@ -146,7 +148,7 @@ class AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem(BatchSystemCleanupSupport):
 
         def killJobs(self):
             """
-            Kill any running jobs within worker
+            Kill any running jobs within thread
             """
             killList = list()
             while True:
@@ -277,14 +279,17 @@ class AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem(BatchSystemCleanupSupport):
                 while self._runStep():
                     pass
             except Exception as ex:
-                logger.error("GridEngine like batch system failure", exc_info=ex)
-                raise
+                self.exception = ex
+                logger.error("GridEngine like batch system failure: %s", ex)
+                # don't raise exception as is_alive will still be set to false,
+                # signalling exception in the thread as we expect the thread to
+                # always be running for the duration of the workflow
 
         def coalesce_job_exit_codes(self, batch_job_id_list: list) -> List[Union[int, Tuple[int, Optional[BatchJobExitReason]], None]]:
             """
             Returns exit codes and possibly exit reasons for a list of jobs, or None if they are running.
 
-            Called by AbstractGridEngineWorker.checkOnJobs().
+            Called by GridEngineThread.checkOnJobs().
 
             This is an optional part of the interface. It should raise
             NotImplementedError if not actually implemented for a particular
@@ -345,7 +350,7 @@ class AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem(BatchSystemCleanupSupport):
         def killJob(self, jobID):
             """
             Kill specific job with the Toil job ID. Implementation-specific; called
-            by AbstractGridEngineWorker.killJobs()
+            by GridEngineThread.killJobs()
 
             :param string jobID: Toil job ID
             """
@@ -360,7 +365,7 @@ class AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem(BatchSystemCleanupSupport):
 
             If the job is not running but the exit code is not available, it
             will be EXIT_STATUS_UNAVAILABLE_VALUE. Implementation-specific;
-            called by AbstractGridEngineWorker.checkOnJobs().
+            called by GridEngineThread.checkOnJobs().
 
             The exit code will only be 0 if the job affirmatively succeeded.
 
@@ -379,10 +384,10 @@ class AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem(BatchSystemCleanupSupport):
         self.updatedJobsQueue = Queue()
         self.killQueue = Queue()
         self.killedJobsQueue = Queue()
-        # get the associated worker class here
-        self.worker = self.Worker(self.newJobsQueue, self.updatedJobsQueue,
-                                  self.killQueue, self.killedJobsQueue, self)
-        self.worker.start()
+        # get the associated thread class here
+        self.background_thread = self.GridEngineThread(self.newJobsQueue, self.updatedJobsQueue,
+                                                       self.killQueue, self.killedJobsQueue, self)
+        self.background_thread.start()
         self._getRunningBatchJobIDsTimestamp = None
         self._getRunningBatchJobIDsCache = {}
 
@@ -428,7 +433,12 @@ class AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem(BatchSystemCleanupSupport):
         for jobID in jobIDs:
             self.killQueue.put(jobID)
         while jobIDs:
-            killedJobId = self.killedJobsQueue.get()
+            try:
+                killedJobId = self.killedJobsQueue.get(timeout=10)
+            except Empty:
+                if not self.background_thread.is_alive():
+                    raise self.GridEngineThreadException("Grid engine thread failed unexpectedly") from self.background_thread.exception
+                continue
             if killedJobId is None:
                 break
             jobIDs.remove(killedJobId)
@@ -460,7 +470,7 @@ class AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem(BatchSystemCleanupSupport):
                 self.config.statePollingWait):
             batchIds = self._getRunningBatchJobIDsCache
         else:
-            batchIds = self.with_retries(self.worker.getRunningJobIDs)
+            batchIds = self.with_retries(self.background_thread.getRunningJobIDs)
             self._getRunningBatchJobIDsCache = batchIds
             self._getRunningBatchJobIDsTimestamp = datetime.now()
         batchIds.update(self.getRunningLocalJobIDs())
@@ -468,6 +478,11 @@ class AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem(BatchSystemCleanupSupport):
 
     def getUpdatedBatchJob(self, maxWait):
         local_tuple = self.getUpdatedLocalJob(0)
+
+        if not self.background_thread.is_alive():
+            # kill remaining jobs on the thread
+            self.background_thread.killJobs()
+            raise self.GridEngineThreadException("Unexpected GridEngineThread failure") from self.background_thread.exception
         if local_tuple:
             return local_tuple
         else:
@@ -481,14 +496,14 @@ class AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem(BatchSystemCleanupSupport):
 
     def shutdown(self) -> None:
         """
-        Signals worker to shutdown (via sentinel) then cleanly joins the thread
+        Signals thread to shutdown (via sentinel) then cleanly joins the thread
         """
         self.shutdownLocal()
         newJobsQueue = self.newJobsQueue
         self.newJobsQueue = None
 
         newJobsQueue.put(None)
-        self.worker.join()
+        self.background_thread.join()
 
     def setEnv(self, name, value=None):
         if value and ',' in value:
diff --git a/src/toil/batchSystems/gridengine.py b/src/toil/batchSystems/gridengine.py
index 6250b491..17fe1838 100644
--- a/src/toil/batchSystems/gridengine.py
+++ b/src/toil/batchSystems/gridengine.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 class GridEngineBatchSystem(AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem):
 
-    class Worker(AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem.Worker):
+    class GridEngineThread(AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem.GridEngineThread):
         """
         Grid Engine-specific AbstractGridEngineWorker methods
         """
diff --git a/src/toil/batchSystems/htcondor.py b/src/toil/batchSystems/htcondor.py
index 10504414..17b718bb 100644
--- a/src/toil/batchSystems/htcondor.py
+++ b/src/toil/batchSystems/htcondor.py
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ schedd_lock = Lock()
 class HTCondorBatchSystem(AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem):
     # When using HTCondor, the Schedd handles scheduling
 
-    class Worker(AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem.Worker):
+    class GridEngineThread(AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem.GridEngineThread):
 
         # Override the createJobs method so that we can use htcondor.Submit objects
         # and so that we can get disk allocation requests and ceil the CPU request.
diff --git a/src/toil/batchSystems/lsf.py b/src/toil/batchSystems/lsf.py
index 68dcef7a..5d44029a 100644
--- a/src/toil/batchSystems/lsf.py
+++ b/src/toil/batchSystems/lsf.py
@@ -44,8 +44,8 @@ logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 class LSFBatchSystem(AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem):
 
-    class Worker(AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem.Worker):
-        """LSF specific AbstractGridEngineWorker methods."""
+    class GridEngineThread(AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem.GridEngineThread):
+        """LSF specific GridEngineThread methods."""
 
         def getRunningJobIDs(self):
             times = {}
diff --git a/src/toil/batchSystems/slurm.py b/src/toil/batchSystems/slurm.py
index 3a624cf1..4a018654 100644
--- a/src/toil/batchSystems/slurm.py
+++ b/src/toil/batchSystems/slurm.py
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ NONTERMINAL_STATES: Set[str] = {
 
 class SlurmBatchSystem(AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem):
 
-    class Worker(AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem.Worker):
+    class GridEngineThread(AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem.GridEngineThread):
 
         def getRunningJobIDs(self):
             # Should return a dictionary of Job IDs and number of seconds
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ class SlurmBatchSystem(AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem):
                 logger.debug("sbatch submitted job %d", result)
                 return result
             except OSError as e:
-                logger.error("sbatch command failed")
+                logger.error(f"sbatch command failed with error: {e}")
                 raise e
 
         def coalesce_job_exit_codes(self, batch_job_id_list: list) -> List[Union[int, Tuple[int, Optional[BatchJobExitReason]], None]]:
diff --git a/src/toil/batchSystems/torque.py b/src/toil/batchSystems/torque.py
index 63fb18e9..308c7c2f 100644
--- a/src/toil/batchSystems/torque.py
+++ b/src/toil/batchSystems/torque.py
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 class TorqueBatchSystem(AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem):
 
     # class-specific Worker
-    class Worker(AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem.Worker):
+    class GridEngineThread(AbstractGridEngineBatchSystem.GridEngineThread):
         def __init__(
             self, newJobsQueue, updatedJobsQueue, killQueue, killedJobsQueue, boss
         ):
diff --git a/src/toil/lib/retry.py b/src/toil/lib/retry.py
index b06481ba..f645724d 100644
--- a/src/toil/lib/retry.py
+++ b/src/toil/lib/retry.py
@@ -572,6 +572,8 @@ def old_retry(
     >>> i
     1
     """
+    if timeout is None:
+        timeout = DEFAULT_TIMEOUT
     if timeout > 0:
         go = [ None ]
 

diff --git a/src/toil/test/batchSystems/test_slurm.py b/src/toil/test/batchSystems/test_slurm.py
index 0e68391f..483e8fb0 100644
--- a/src/toil/test/batchSystems/test_slurm.py
+++ b/src/toil/test/batchSystems/test_slurm.py
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ class SlurmTest(ToilTest):
 
     def setUp(self):
         self.monkeypatch = pytest.MonkeyPatch()
-        self.worker = toil.batchSystems.slurm.SlurmBatchSystem.Worker(
+        self.worker = toil.batchSystems.slurm.SlurmBatchSystem.GridEngineThread(
             newJobsQueue=Queue(),
             updatedJobsQueue=Queue(),
             killQueue=Queue(),

Failed `sbatch` may hang a workflow
Mira noticed that a workflow she was running reported a failed `sbatch` command, and then reported a long run of `squeue` commands succeeding while apparently doing nothing.

It may be that a failed `sbatch` can kill a job submission thread that we need to be alive for the workflow not to get stuck.

┆Issue is synchronized with this [Jira Story](https://ucsc-cgl.atlassian.net/browse/TOIL-1533)
┆Issue Number: TOIL-1533

src/toil/test/batchSystems/test_slurm.py::SlurmTest::test_coalesce_job_exit_codes_many_all_exist src/toil/test/batchSystems/test_slurm.py::SlurmTest::test_coalesce_job_exit_codes_one_exists src/toil/test/batchSystems/test_slurm.py::SlurmTest::test_coalesce_job_exit_codes_one_not_exists src/toil/test/batchSystems/test_slurm.py::SlurmTest::test_coalesce_job_exit_codes_sacct_raises_job_exists src/toil/test/batchSystems/test_slurm.py::SlurmTest::test_coalesce_job_exit_codes_sacct_raises_job_not_exists src/toil/test/batchSystems/test_slurm.py::SlurmTest::test_coalesce_job_exit_codes_some_exists src/toil/test/batchSystems/test_slurm.py::SlurmTest::test_getJobDetailsFromSacct_many_all_exist src/toil/test/batchSystems/test_slurm.py::SlurmTest::test_getJobDetailsFromSacct_many_none_exist src/toil/test/batchSystems/test_slurm.py::SlurmTest::test_getJobDetailsFromSacct_many_some_exist src/toil/test/batchSystems/test_slurm.py::SlurmTest::test_getJobDetailsFromSacct_one_exists src/toil/test/batchSystems/test_slurm.py::SlurmTest::test_getJobDetailsFromSacct_one_not_exists src/toil/test/batchSystems/test_slurm.py::SlurmTest::test_getJobDetailsFromScontrol_many_all_exist src/toil/test/batchSystems/test_slurm.py::SlurmTest::test_getJobDetailsFromScontrol_many_none_exist src/toil/test/batchSystems/test_slurm.py::SlurmTest::test_getJobDetailsFromScontrol_many_some_exist src/toil/test/batchSystems/test_slurm.py::SlurmTest::test_getJobDetailsFromScontrol_one_exists src/toil/test/batchSystems/test_slurm.py::SlurmTest::test_getJobDetailsFromScontrol_one_not_exists src/toil/test/batchSystems/test_slurm.py::SlurmTest::test_getJobExitCode_job_exists src/toil/test/batchSystems/test_slurm.py::SlurmTest::test_getJobExitCode_job_not_exists src/toil/test/batchSystems/test_slurm.py::SlurmTest::test_getJobExitCode_sacct_raises_job_exists src/toil/test/batchSystems/test_slurm.py::SlurmTest::test_getJobExitCode_sacct_raises_job_not_exists