diff --git a/cmd/consumer/main.go b/cmd/consumer/main.go
index 4fd7a7e..72ac324 100644
--- a/cmd/consumer/main.go
+++ b/cmd/consumer/main.go
@@ -55,6 +55,9 @@ func (srp *sampleRecordProcessor) Shutdown(reason string) error {
 	if reason == "TERMINATE" {
 		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Was told to terminate, will attempt to checkpoint.\n")
 		srp.checkpointer.Shutdown()
+	} else if reason == "SHUTDOWN_REQUESTED" {
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Got shutdown requested, attempt to checkpoint.\n")
+		srp.checkpointer.Shutdown()
 	} else {
 		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Shutting down due to failover. Will not checkpoint.\n")
 	}
@@ -62,11 +65,6 @@ func (srp *sampleRecordProcessor) Shutdown(reason string) error {
 }
 
 func main() {
-	f, err := os.Create("/tmp/kcl_stderr")
-	if err != nil {
-		panic(err)
-	}
-	defer f.Close()
 	kclProcess := kcl.New(os.Stdin, os.Stdout, os.Stderr, newSampleRecordProcessor())
 	kclProcess.Run()
 }
diff --git a/kcl/kcl.go b/kcl/kcl.go
index 5949caf..8e847b0 100644
--- a/kcl/kcl.go
+++ b/kcl/kcl.go
@@ -238,8 +238,13 @@ func (kclp *KCLProcess) handleLine(line string) (string, error) {
 	case ActionShutdown:
 		kclp.ioHandler.writeError("Received shutdown action...")
 
+		reason := action.Reason
 		// Shutdown should block until it's safe to shutdown the process
-		err = kclp.recordProcessor.Shutdown(action.Reason)
+		if action.Action == "shutdownRequested" {
+			reason = "SHUTDOWN_REQUESTED"
+		}
+		err = kclp.recordProcessor.Shutdown(reason)
+
 		if err != nil { // Log error and continue shutting down
 			kclp.ioHandler.writeError(fmt.Sprintf("ERR shutdown: %+#v", err))
 		}