New Administration Implements Executive-Branch Hiring Freeze

Federal Issues Trump OMB

On January 23, the White House issued a Presidential Memorandum implementing “a freeze on the hiring of Federal civilian employees to be applied across the board in the executive branch.” As explained in the memorandum, “no vacant positions existing at noon on January 22, 2017, may be filled and no new positions may be created, except in limited circumstances.” The freeze does not include or apply to military personnel. The memorandum also instructs, among other things, that “[w]ithin 90 days of the date of this memorandum, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in consultation with the Director of OPM, shall recommend a long-term plan to reduce the size of the Federal Government’s workforce through attrition. This order shall expire upon implementation of the OMB plan.” On January 24, the OMB issued guidance directed at agency heads on how to implement the new administration’s hiring freeze.