diff --git a/packages/socket-mode/package.json b/packages/socket-mode/package.json
index 017e66161..cc14e99df 100644
--- a/packages/socket-mode/package.json
+++ b/packages/socket-mode/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@slack/socket-mode",
-  "version": "2.0.2",
+  "version": "2.0.3-rc.1",
   "description": "Official library for using the Slack Platform's Socket Mode API",
   "author": "Slack Technologies, LLC",
   "license": "MIT",
@@ -58,11 +58,13 @@
     "@tsconfig/recommended": "^1.0.7",
     "@types/chai": "^4",
     "@types/mocha": "^10",
+    "@types/proxyquire": "^1.3.31",
     "@types/sinon": "^17",
     "c8": "^10.1.2",
     "chai": "^4",
     "mocha": "^11",
     "nodemon": "^3.1.0",
+    "proxyquire": "^2.1.3",
     "shx": "^0.3.2",
     "sinon": "^19",
     "source-map-support": "^0.5.21",
diff --git a/packages/socket-mode/src/SlackWebSocket.spec.ts b/packages/socket-mode/src/SlackWebSocket.spec.ts
index 2a8447152..181b36542 100644
--- a/packages/socket-mode/src/SlackWebSocket.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/socket-mode/src/SlackWebSocket.spec.ts
@@ -1,14 +1,29 @@
 import { ConsoleLogger } from '@slack/logger';
 import { assert } from 'chai';
 import EventEmitter from 'eventemitter3';
+import proxyquire from 'proxyquire';
 import sinon from 'sinon';
-
-import { SlackWebSocket } from './SlackWebSocket';
+proxyquire.noPreserveCache();
 import logModule from './logger';
 
+// A slightly spruced up event emitter aiming at mocking out the `ws` library's `WebSocket` class
+class WSMock extends EventEmitter {
+  // biome-ignore lint/suspicious/noExplicitAny: event listeners can accept any args
+  addEventListener(evt: string, fn: (...args: any[]) => void) {
+    this.addListener.call(this, evt, fn);
+  }
+}
+
 describe('SlackWebSocket', () => {
   const sandbox = sinon.createSandbox();
-
+  let SlackWebSocket: typeof import('./SlackWebSocket').SlackWebSocket;
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    SlackWebSocket = proxyquire.load('./SlackWebSocket', {
+      ws: {
+        WebSocket: WSMock,
+      },
+    }).SlackWebSocket;
+  });
   afterEach(() => {
     sandbox.restore();
   });
@@ -38,4 +53,31 @@ describe('SlackWebSocket', () => {
       assert.isFalse(logFactory.called);
     });
   });
+  describe('WebSocket event handling', () => {
+    it('should call disconnect() if websocket emits an error', async () => {
+      // an exposed event emitter pretending its a websocket
+      const ws = new WSMock();
+      // mock out the `ws` library and have it return our event emitter mock
+      SlackWebSocket = proxyquire.load('./SlackWebSocket', {
+        ws: {
+          WebSocket: class Fake {
+            constructor() {
+              // biome-ignore lint/correctness/noConstructorReturn: for test mocking purposes
+              return ws;
+            }
+          },
+        },
+      }).SlackWebSocket;
+      const sws = new SlackWebSocket({
+        url: 'whatevs',
+        client: new EventEmitter(),
+        clientPingTimeoutMS: 1,
+        serverPingTimeoutMS: 1,
+      });
+      const discStub = sinon.stub(sws, 'disconnect');
+      sws.connect();
+      ws.emit('error', { error: new Error('boom') });
+      sinon.assert.calledOnce(discStub);
+    });
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/socket-mode/src/SlackWebSocket.ts b/packages/socket-mode/src/SlackWebSocket.ts
index 0c1412b1f..cb0ac434d 100644
--- a/packages/socket-mode/src/SlackWebSocket.ts
+++ b/packages/socket-mode/src/SlackWebSocket.ts
@@ -111,29 +111,28 @@ export class SlackWebSocket {
       agent: this.options.httpAgent,
     };
 
-    const ws = new WebSocket(this.options.url, options);
+    this.websocket = new WebSocket(this.options.url, options);
 
-    ws.addEventListener('open', (_event) => {
+    this.websocket.addEventListener('open', (_event) => {
       this.logger.debug('WebSocket open event received (connection established)!');
-      this.websocket = ws;
       this.monitorPingToSlack();
     });
-    ws.addEventListener('error', (event) => {
+    this.websocket.addEventListener('error', (event) => {
       this.logger.error(`WebSocket error occurred: ${event.message}`);
       this.disconnect();
       this.options.client.emit('error', websocketErrorWithOriginal(event.error));
     });
-    ws.on('message', (msg, isBinary) => {
+    this.websocket.on('message', (msg, isBinary) => {
       this.options.client.emit('ws_message', msg, isBinary);
     });
-    ws.on('close', (code: number, data: Buffer) => {
+    this.websocket.on('close', (code: number, data: Buffer) => {
       this.logger.debug(`WebSocket close frame received (code: ${code}, reason: ${data.toString()})`);
       this.closeFrameReceived = true;
       this.disconnect();
     });
 
     // Confirm WebSocket connection is still active
-    ws.on('ping', (data) => {
+    this.websocket.on('ping', (data) => {
       // Note that ws' `autoPong` option is true by default, so no need to respond to ping.
       // see https://github.com/websockets/ws/blob/2aa0405a5e96754b296fef6bd6ebdfb2f11967fc/doc/ws.md#new-websocketaddress-protocols-options
       if (this.options.pingPongLoggingEnabled) {
@@ -142,7 +141,7 @@ export class SlackWebSocket {
       this.monitorPingFromSlack();
     });
 
-    ws.on('pong', (data) => {
+    this.websocket.on('pong', (data) => {
       if (this.options.pingPongLoggingEnabled) {
         this.logger.debug(`WebSocket received pong from Slack server (data: ${data.toString()})`);
       }
diff --git a/packages/socket-mode/src/SocketModeClient.ts b/packages/socket-mode/src/SocketModeClient.ts
index 08c31a678..b4a036419 100644
--- a/packages/socket-mode/src/SocketModeClient.ts
+++ b/packages/socket-mode/src/SocketModeClient.ts
@@ -229,9 +229,13 @@ export class SocketModeClient extends EventEmitter {
     this.logger.debug(`Before trying to reconnect, this client will wait for ${msBeforeRetry} milliseconds`);
     return new Promise((res, _rej) => {
       setTimeout(() => {
-        this.logger.debug('Continuing with reconnect...');
-        this.emit(State.Reconnecting);
-        cb.apply(this).then(res);
+        if (this.shuttingDown) {
+          this.logger.debug('Client shutting down, will not attempt reconnect.');
+        } else {
+          this.logger.debug('Continuing with reconnect...');
+          this.emit(State.Reconnecting);
+          cb.apply(this).then(res);
+        }
       }, msBeforeRetry);
     });
   }
diff --git a/packages/socket-mode/src/errors.ts b/packages/socket-mode/src/errors.ts
index 412a79bb2..6078e1a9f 100644
--- a/packages/socket-mode/src/errors.ts
+++ b/packages/socket-mode/src/errors.ts
@@ -61,10 +61,7 @@ function errorWithCode(error: Error, code: ErrorCode): CodedError {
  * A factory to create SMWebsocketError objects.
  */
 export function websocketErrorWithOriginal(original: Error): SMWebsocketError {
-  const error = errorWithCode(
-    new Error(`Failed to send message on websocket: ${original.message}`),
-    ErrorCode.WebsocketError,
-  ) as Partial<SMWebsocketError>;
+  const error = errorWithCode(new Error(original.message), ErrorCode.WebsocketError) as Partial<SMWebsocketError>;
   error.original = original;
   return error as SMWebsocketError;
 }
diff --git a/packages/socket-mode/test/integration.spec.js b/packages/socket-mode/test/integration.spec.js
index c4ff60de4..51493cffb 100644
--- a/packages/socket-mode/test/integration.spec.js
+++ b/packages/socket-mode/test/integration.spec.js
@@ -42,9 +42,9 @@ describe('Integration tests with a WebSocket server', () => {
     });
   });
   afterEach(async () => {
-    server.close();
+    if (server) server.close();
     server = null;
-    wss.close();
+    if (wss) wss.close();
     wss = null;
     exposed_ws_connection = null;
     if (client) {
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ describe('Integration tests with a WebSocket server', () => {
       await client.disconnect();
     });
   });
-  describe('catastrophic server behaviour', () => {
+  describe('`apps.connections.open` API failure modes', () => {
     beforeEach(() => {
       client = new SocketModeClient({
         appToken: 'whatever',
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ describe('Integration tests with a WebSocket server', () => {
       await client.disconnect();
     });
   });
-  describe('failure modes / unexpected messages sent to client', () => {
+  describe('unexpected socket messages sent to client', () => {
     const debugLoggerSpy = sinon.stub(); // add the following to expose further logging: .callsFake(console.log);
     const noop = () => {};
     beforeEach(() => {
@@ -139,6 +139,7 @@ describe('Integration tests with a WebSocket server', () => {
         clientOptions: {
           slackApiUrl: `http://localhost:${HTTP_PORT}/`,
         },
+        logLevel: 'debug',
         logger: {
           debug: debugLoggerSpy,
           info: noop,
@@ -168,6 +169,52 @@ describe('Integration tests with a WebSocket server', () => {
       assert.isTrue(debugLoggerSpy.calledWith(sinon.match('Unable to parse an incoming WebSocket message')));
       await client.disconnect();
     });
+    it('should maintain one serial reconnection attempt if WSS server sends unexpected HTTP response during handshake, like a 409', async () => {
+      // test for https://github.com/slackapi/node-slack-sdk/issues/2094
+      // override socket mode client instance with lower client ping timeout, which controls reconnection rate
+      client = new SocketModeClient({
+        appToken: 'whatever',
+        clientOptions: {
+          slackApiUrl: `http://localhost:${HTTP_PORT}/`,
+        },
+        clientPingTimeout: 20, // controls reconnection rate
+        logLevel: 'debug',
+      });
+      // shut down the default mock WS server used in these tests as we will customize its behaviour in this test
+      wss.close();
+      wss = null;
+      // custom HTTP server that blows up during initial WS handshake
+      const badServer = createServer((_req, res) => {
+        res.writeHead(409, { 'content-type': 'application/json' });
+        res.end(
+          JSON.stringify({
+            message: 'Unexpected server response: 409',
+          }),
+        );
+      });
+      badServer.listen(WSS_PORT);
+      let closed = 0;
+      // the `close` event is raised every time the websocket server returns an error, so let's keep track of how often this event is emited and use that to infer correct reconnection attempt counts / behaviour
+      client.on('close', () => {
+        closed++;
+      });
+      // do not use await here, since `start()` won't return until the connection is established. we are intentionally testing connection establishment failure, so that will never finish. so, let's run this in a rogue "thread", e.g. fire off an async method and let it do its thing!
+      client.start();
+      await sleep(50);
+      // after 50ms, with a timeout of 20ms, we would expect 2 retries.
+      // crucially, the bug reported in https://github.com/slackapi/node-slack-sdk/issues/2094 shows that on every reconnection attempt, we spawn _another_ websocket instance, which attempts to reconnect forever and is never cleaned up.
+      // effectively: with each reconnection attempt, we double the number of websockets, eventually causing crashes / out-of-memory issues / rate-limiting from Slack APIs.
+      // with the bug not fixed, this assertion fails as `close` event was emitted 4 times! if we waited another 20ms, we would see this event count double again (8), and so on.
+      assert.equal(closed, 2, 'unexpected number of times `close` event was raised during reconnection!');
+      await client.disconnect();
+      await new Promise((res, rej) => {
+        // shut down the bad server
+        badServer.close((err) => {
+          if (err) rej(err);
+          else res();
+        });
+      });
+    });
   });
   describe('lifecycle events', () => {
     beforeEach(() => {