diff --git a/src/app/api/ingest/medication/__tests__/route.test.ts b/src/app/api/ingest/medication/__tests__/route.test.ts
index c1fa13ee5..0ab967c9d 100644
--- a/src/app/api/ingest/medication/__tests__/route.test.ts
+++ b/src/app/api/ingest/medication/__tests__/route.test.ts
@@ -376,7 +376,7 @@ describe("POST /api/ingest/medication — slot attribution + convergence (v1.16.
       expiresAt: null,
       lastUsedAt: null,
       user: { deletionRequestedAt: null },
-    } as Awaited<ReturnType<typeof prisma.apiToken.findUnique>>);
+    } as never);
   }
 
   it("gives a one-medication token the same 403 for an unknown and an out-of-scope name", async () => {
diff --git a/src/lib/jobs/__tests__/pending-deletion-gate.test.ts b/src/lib/jobs/__tests__/pending-deletion-gate.test.ts
index 83b38d5de..51f6d2c49 100644
--- a/src/lib/jobs/__tests__/pending-deletion-gate.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/jobs/__tests__/pending-deletion-gate.test.ts
@@ -76,4 +76,21 @@ describe("the pending-deletion gate on queued jobs", () => {
     expect(handler).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
     expect(handler).toHaveBeenCalledWith([job("3", { userId: "u" })]);
   });
+
+  it("lets a queue that only changes how rows are stored run for it", async () => {
+    pending.clear();
+    pending.add("frozen");
+    const handler = vi.fn(async () => ({ ok: true as const, did: {} }));
+    const bound = bindableHandler(
+      {
+        queue: "free-text-encryption-backfill",
+        work: {},
+        actsForPendingAccounts: true,
+        load: async () => handler,
+      } as never,
+      { boss: {} as PgBoss },
+    );
+    await bound([job("1", { userId: "frozen" })]);
+    expect(handler).toHaveBeenCalledWith([job("1", { userId: "frozen" })]);
+  });
 });
diff --git a/src/lib/jobs/registry/define-job.ts b/src/lib/jobs/registry/define-job.ts
index acaa67254..1e31e990a 100644
--- a/src/lib/jobs/registry/define-job.ts
+++ b/src/lib/jobs/registry/define-job.ts
@@ -65,6 +65,14 @@ export interface JobSpec<J extends Job<unknown>> {
    * filter of the jobs that are heavy on a queue that also carries light ones.
    */
   readonly lane?: true | ((job: J) => boolean);
+  /**
+   * The queue's per-account jobs run for an account pending deletion too.
+   * Without it a job whose payload names such an account is completed
+   * without running (`pending-deletion-gate`). Only for work that changes
+   * how rows are stored and not what the record holds (an encryption
+   * backfill), which is done or erased the same either way.
+   */
+  readonly actsForPendingAccounts?: true;
   /** Loads the handler that drains the queue. */
   readonly load: (ctx: JobContext) => Promise<BatchHandler<J>>;
 }
diff --git a/src/lib/jobs/registry/maintenance.ts b/src/lib/jobs/registry/maintenance.ts
index e56de8081..587123022 100644
--- a/src/lib/jobs/registry/maintenance.ts
+++ b/src/lib/jobs/registry/maintenance.ts
@@ -660,6 +660,8 @@ const jobs: readonly JobDefinition[] = [
       "Per-user encryption backfill (Coach title, custom-metric note, practitioner phone + address, workout GPS track); discovery drops the user once no readable value remains.",
     ),
     work: { localConcurrency: FREE_TEXT_ENCRYPTION_BACKFILL_CONCURRENCY },
+    // Seals what is already stored; see the module's account-deletion note.
+    actsForPendingAccounts: true,
     load: async () => (await encryption()).handleFreeTextEncryptionBackfill,
   }),
   // Physical purge of documents past the 30-day undo grace.
diff --git a/src/lib/jobs/registry/register.ts b/src/lib/jobs/registry/register.ts
index 412495a56..6e162bbd6 100644
--- a/src/lib/jobs/registry/register.ts
+++ b/src/lib/jobs/registry/register.ts
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ export function bindableHandler(
   // A job for an account pending deletion completes without running: it
   // was queued before the account was frozen (see `pending-deletion-gate`).
   let handler: BatchHandler<Job<unknown>> = async (jobs) => {
+    if (definition.actsForPendingAccounts) return (await load())(jobs);
     const { live, dropped } = await dropJobsOfPendingAccounts(jobs);
     if (live.length === 0) {
       return jobDone({ jobs_skipped_deletion_pending: dropped });
diff --git a/tests/integration/account-deletion-grace.test.ts b/tests/integration/account-deletion-grace.test.ts
index 8e91fbc17..410474e40 100644
--- a/tests/integration/account-deletion-grace.test.ts
+++ b/tests/integration/account-deletion-grace.test.ts
@@ -621,7 +621,6 @@ describe("a handover link and a profile pending deletion", () => {
   });
 
   it("revokes the links a Guardian minted when the Guardian deletes their account", async () => {
-    const prisma = getPrismaClient();
     const leaving = await seedAccount("guardian-leaving");
     const staying = await seedAccount("guardian-staying");
     const profile = await profileGuardedBy("managed-kid", [