diff --git a/src/yb/tserver/tablet_memory_manager.cc b/src/yb/tserver/tablet_memory_manager.cc
index a26561ff08f..6a21787afa6 100644
--- a/src/yb/tserver/tablet_memory_manager.cc
+++ b/src/yb/tserver/tablet_memory_manager.cc
@@ -47,10 +47,6 @@ DEFINE_int64(global_memstore_size_mb_max, 2048,
              "Global memstore size is determined as a percentage of the available "
              "memory. However, this flag limits it in absolute size. Value of 0 "
              "means no limit on the value obtained by the percentage. Default is 2048.");
-DEFINE_int32(flush_background_task_interval_msec, 0,
-             "The tick interval time for the flush background task. "
-             "This defaults to 0, which means disable the background task "
-             "And only use callbacks on memstore allocations. ");
 
 namespace {
   constexpr int kDbCacheSizeUsePercentage = -1;
@@ -234,8 +230,7 @@ void TabletMemoryManager::ConfigureBackgroundTask(tablet::TabletOptions* options
     background_task_.reset(new BackgroundTask(
       std::function<void()>([this]() { FlushTabletIfLimitExceeded(); }),
       "tablet manager",
-      "flush scheduler bgtask",
-      std::chrono::milliseconds(FLAGS_flush_background_task_interval_msec)));
+      "flush scheduler bgtask"));
     options->memory_monitor = std::make_shared<rocksdb::MemoryMonitor>(
         memstore_size_bytes,
         std::function<void()>([this](){
diff --git a/src/yb/util/CMakeLists.txt b/src/yb/util/CMakeLists.txt
index 6be12c841bd..351ef8994b3 100644
--- a/src/yb/util/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/yb/util/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -350,6 +350,7 @@ endif()
 
 set(YB_TEST_LINK_LIBS yb_test_util gutil gmock ${YB_TEST_LINK_LIBS_EXTENSIONS} ${YB_MIN_TEST_LIBS})
 ADD_YB_TEST(atomic-test)
+ADD_YB_TEST(background_task-test)
 ADD_YB_TEST(bit-util-test)
 ADD_YB_TEST(bitmap-test)
 ADD_YB_TEST(blocking_queue-test)
diff --git a/src/yb/util/background_task-test.cc b/src/yb/util/background_task-test.cc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5abf1060bcd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/yb/util/background_task-test.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,109 @@
+// Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+// or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+// distributed with this work for additional information
+// regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+// to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+// "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+// with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+// software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+// "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+// KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+// specific language governing permissions and limitations
+// under the License.
+//
+// The following only applies to changes made to this file as part of YugaByte development.
+//
+// Portions Copyright (c) YugaByte, Inc.
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except
+// in compliance with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License
+// is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express
+// or implied.  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+// under the License.
+//
+
+#include <chrono>
+#include <thread>
+
+#include <gtest/gtest-param-test.h>
+#include <gtest/gtest.h>
+
+#include "yb/util/background_task.h"
+
+#include "yb/util/size_literals.h"
+#include "yb/util/test_macros.h"
+#include "yb/util/test_util.h"
+#include "yb/util/tsan_util.h"
+
+using namespace std::chrono_literals;
+
+namespace yb {
+
+class BackgroundTaskTest : public YBTest {
+ public:
+  BackgroundTaskTest() : YBTest(), run_count_(0) {}
+
+  std::unique_ptr<BackgroundTask> GetTask(std::chrono::milliseconds timeout = 0s) {
+    auto task = std::make_unique<BackgroundTask>([this]() {
+      run_count_.fetch_add(1);
+    }, "test", "test", timeout);
+    EXPECT_OK(task->Init());
+    return task;
+  }
+
+ protected:
+  std::atomic<int> run_count_;
+};
+
+TEST_F(BackgroundTaskTest, RunsTaskOnWake) {
+  constexpr int kNumTaskRuns = 1000;
+  auto bg_task = GetTask();
+
+  for (int i = 1; i < kNumTaskRuns; ++i) {
+    EXPECT_OK(bg_task->Wake());
+    EXPECT_OK(WaitFor([this, i]() {
+      return run_count_ == i;
+    }, 1s * kTimeMultiplier, Format("Wait for i-th ($0) task run.", i)));
+  }
+
+  bg_task->Shutdown();
+}
+
+TEST_F(BackgroundTaskTest, RunsTaskOnInterval) {
+  constexpr int kNumTaskRuns = 1000;
+
+  auto interval = 10ms * kTimeMultiplier;
+  auto bg_task = GetTask(interval);
+
+  for (int i = 1; i < kNumTaskRuns; ++i) {
+    std::this_thread::sleep_for(interval);
+    EXPECT_OK(WaitFor([this, i]() {
+      return run_count_ >= i;
+    }, interval / 10, Format("Wait for i-th ($0) task run.", i)));
+  }
+
+  bg_task->Shutdown();
+}
+
+class BackgroundTaskShutdownTest :
+    public BackgroundTaskTest, public ::testing::WithParamInterface<std::chrono::milliseconds> {};
+
+TEST_P(BackgroundTaskShutdownTest, InitAndShutdown) {
+  auto interval = GetParam() * kTimeMultiplier;
+  auto bg_task = GetTask(interval);
+  std::this_thread::sleep_for(1s * kTimeMultiplier);
+  bg_task->Shutdown();
+}
+
+INSTANTIATE_TEST_CASE_P(
+    InitAndShutdown, BackgroundTaskShutdownTest, ::testing::Values(0s, 20ms, 5s));
+
+}  // namespace yb
diff --git a/src/yb/util/background_task.h b/src/yb/util/background_task.h
index 01ec0044392..65e1e909d37 100644
--- a/src/yb/util/background_task.h
+++ b/src/yb/util/background_task.h
@@ -22,13 +22,15 @@ namespace yb {
 // Executions of RunTask are serialized. If interval_msec is 0, the task only runs when explicitly
 // woken up.
 // TODO(bojanserafimov): Use in CatalogManagerBgTasks
-// TODO(bojanserafimov): Add unit tests
 class BackgroundTask {
  public:
-  explicit BackgroundTask(std::function<void()> task, std::string category,
-                          const std::string& name, std::chrono::milliseconds interval_msec)
-    : task_(std::move(task)), category_(category),
-    name_(std::move(name)), interval_(interval_msec) { }
+  BackgroundTask(
+      std::function<void()> task, std::string category, const std::string& name,
+      std::chrono::milliseconds interval_msec = std::chrono::milliseconds(0)):
+      task_(std::move(task)),
+      category_(category),
+      name_(std::move(name)),
+      interval_(interval_msec) {}
 
   CHECKED_STATUS Init() {
     RETURN_NOT_OK(yb::Thread::Create(category_, name_, &BackgroundTask::Run, this, &thread_));
@@ -84,6 +86,10 @@ class BackgroundTask {
       // Wait
       if (interval_ != std::chrono::milliseconds::zero()) {
         cond_.wait_for(lock, interval_);
+        // If we wake here from the interval_ timeout, then we should behave as if we have a job. If
+        // we wake from an explicit notify from a Wake() call, we should still behave as if we have
+        // a job.
+        have_job_ = true;
       } else {
         cond_.wait(lock);
       }