Hatch Act Rules for Federal Employees

What Is the Hatch Act

The Hatch Act is the 1939 law that keeps the federal government nonpartisan by limiting the political activity of executive-branch employees. It protects the idea that public servants work for the public, not for whoever holds the White House, so a clerk processing your benefits is not pressured to campaign for the boss’s party. It is codified at 5 U.S.C. sections 7321 to 7326 and was updated by the Hatch Act Modernization Act of 2012.

The most important fact about the law is who it leaves out. The President and the Vice President are exempt, because the statute’s definition of “employee” excludes them. A president cannot violate the Hatch Act. The appointees can, and the President decides whether they face any consequence.

Hatch Act Rules at a Glance

Most federal workers can campaign on their own time. The lines are the workday, the official title, and fundraising. The law sorts employees into two tiers. Most are “less restricted.” A smaller “further restricted” group may not campaign in concert with a party or candidate at all. That group includes the FBI, CIA, Secret Service, NSA, the Federal Election Commission, the Justice Department’s Criminal and National Security Divisions, the Office of Special Counsel itself, administrative law judges, and career senior executives (OSC).

The on-duty rule follows you onto a work video call from home, and the rest of the law still applies while you are on leave or furloughed. The small exceptions matter: a federal union member may ask a fellow member who is not a subordinate to give to the union’s PAC, off duty. And the list of localities where federal workers may run as independents is set by regulation at 5 C.F.R. 733.107.

Hatch Act Questions Federal Workers Ask Most

Before you act, you can ask the Office of Special Counsel’s Hatch Act Unit for a free advisory opinion about your own plans. Call (800) 854-2824 or email hatchact@osc.gov.

Open the situation closest to yours

General information, not legal advice.

I want to post about a candidate on social media

1. Post from your personal account, off duty and away from federal buildings, not from a work phone or work computer.
2. Leave your official title and agency out of the post. Having your job listed on your profile is fine.
3. Never share, like, or post a donation link or fundraiser invitation, even at home.
4. If you are further restricted, give your own opinions only. Do not share or repost content from a campaign or party.

OSC's social media guidance applies the same on-duty and fundraising limits online.

My supervisor asked me to donate, volunteer, or attend a campaign event

1. You can say no. A supervisor may not invite subordinates to political events or suggest they do partisan work.
2. Write down the date, the words used, and anyone who heard it.
3. Report it to the Office of Special Counsel through its Hatch Act complaint page. You can ask that your name be kept confidential.

Using official authority to affect an election is banned for every covered employee, in both tiers.

I want to run for local office

1. Check whether the race is partisan. Nonpartisan races, such as many school board and city council seats, are open to you.
2. If candidates run under party labels, you generally cannot run unless you live in a locality listed at 5 C.F.R. 733.107, and then only as an independent.
3. A race labeled nonpartisan can still count as partisan in some cases, such as when a candidate runs on a party endorsement.
4. Ask OSC for an advisory opinion before you file.

In August 2026, OSC charged a VA employee who ran for the state legislature, resigned, and then took the job back after losing the primary.

I work from home or join work calls by video

1. Treat the call as the office. No campaign shirts or hats on camera.
2. Keep campaign signs and candidate pictures out of the frame.
3. Do not use a partisan image as the profile picture on an official email or chat account.

OSC's telework guidance applies the on-duty rules to virtual meetings.

My job was moved into Schedule Policy/Career

1. The Hatch Act rules for your tier have not changed.
2. Your agency may not add political-activity limits beyond the Hatch Act for these positions.
3. For what the reclassification does change, see the Schedule F explainer.

OSC says Schedule Policy/Career positions are not political appointments, citing 5 C.F.R. 734.104.

I think an official is breaking the Hatch Act

1. Save the evidence: a screenshot, a link, the date, and where it happened.
2. File a complaint through the Office of Special Counsel's Hatch Act complaint page.
3. You can file anonymously, but OSC will not tell an anonymous filer the outcome.
4. For a senior appointee, send a copy to your members of Congress, who oversee the office.

From a 1938 Scandal to Today

The Hatch Act grew out of a long fight to take politics out of government jobs, and the law has swung between building guardrails and loosening them. The merit system began with the 1883 Pendleton Act. The Hatch Act arrived in 1939 after the 1938 relief-worker scandals. The 1993 amendments loosened the rules for most employees, and the 2012 modernization adjusted penalties. In 2025 the watchdog’s head was fired and its enforcement policy reversed, and in 2026 the Senate confirmed a new Special Counsel.

1. 1883 Pendleton Act creates merit system After President Garfield is assassinated by a disappointed office-seeker, Congress replaces the spoils system with hiring on merit.
2. 1939 Hatch Act becomes law FDR signs the Act after federal relief workers in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Maryland are pressured to campaign.
3. 1993 Reforms loosen the rules Amendments let most federal employees take part in partisan politics off duty.
4. 2012 Modernization Act Congress adjusts penalties and the rules for state and local coverage.
5. 2025 Watchdog fired, policy reversed The Special Counsel is fired in February. In April the office sends violations by White House staff who are not Senate-confirmed to the President instead of the discipline board. (source)
6. 2026 New Special Counsel confirmed The Senate confirms Charles Baldis in August, after 18 months of acting leadership. (source)

Sources: Britannica; History.com; Congress.gov; Government Executive; Office of Special Counsel.

From the spoils system to a new Special Counsel, 1883-2026: 1883: Pendleton Act creates merit system (After President Garfield is assassinated by a disappointed office-seeker, Congress replaces the spoils system with hiring on merit.). 1939: Hatch Act becomes law (FDR signs the Act after federal relief workers in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Maryland are pressured to campaign.). 1993: Reforms loosen the rules (Amendments let most federal employees take part in partisan politics off duty.). 2012: Modernization Act (Congress adjusts penalties and the rules for state and local coverage.). 2025: Watchdog fired, policy reversed (The Special Counsel is fired in February. In April the office sends violations by White House staff who are not Senate-confirmed to the President instead of the discipline board.). 2026: New Special Counsel confirmed (The Senate confirms Charles Baldis in August, after 18 months of acting leadership.).

1883: The Pendleton Civil Service Act created the federal merit system, replacing the spoils system in which jobs went to political supporters. The push followed the 1881 assassination of President James Garfield by a man who had been denied a government post.

1939: President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Hatch Act, sponsored by Senator Carl Hatch of New Mexico, after the 1938 scandals in which federal relief workers in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Maryland were pressured into campaigning. Its formal name was “An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities.”

1993: The Hatch Act Reform Amendments loosened the rules, letting most federal employees take part in partisan political activity off duty. This is why federal workers today keep their basic political rights. Those rights sit on the merit system Congress created in 1883, now at the center of the fight over the deep state claim.

2012: The Hatch Act Modernization Act adjusted the penalty structure and the rules covering state and local employees paid with federal funds.

2025: The Special Counsel was fired in February. In April, the office began sending Hatch Act findings against White House staff to the President rather than to the board that adjudicates cases.

2026: The Senate confirmed Charles Baldis, the office’s chief counsel, as Special Counsel in August.

The Enforcement Gap

The Hatch Act has a built-in escape hatch for the people at the top. For a career employee, the Office of Special Counsel investigates a violation and takes the case to the Merit Systems Protection Board, an independent tribunal that can impose real discipline. For a Senate-confirmed presidential appointee, that path is closed by statute. The office can only report its findings to the President, who decides whether his own appointee faces any penalty. Agency inspectors general, who police fraud and misconduct rather than politics, face their own limits on what they can make an agency do.

Kellyanne Conway is the clearest example of how the gap works. In June 2019 the Office of Special Counsel found she had repeatedly violated the Act and recommended that the President remove her from federal service. He took no action, and she stayed in her post until August 2020. CREW notes that she was the first White House staffer the office ever recommended for removal.

August 2026 showed both tracks at once. The office charged two career workers before the discipline board. The same month, CREW listed six senior appointees whose Hatch Act complaints were still open.

	Career employees	Senior appointees
Who	A Postal Service worker and a VA employee	Six, including the Commerce and Treasury secretaries and the White House press secretary
Alleged conduct	Ran for state legislature; the Postal Service worker also solicited contributions	Partisan remarks in official interviews and posts, per CREW's complaints
Status	Disciplinary complaints filed with the Merit Systems Protection Board	Still under investigation; the oldest complaint had waited more than a year
Who decides the penalty	An independent board: up to removal, a five-year job ban, or a fine	The President

Sources: Office of Special Counsel, August 20, 2026; CREW letter to Special Counsel Charles Baldis, August 20, 2026. The appointee complaints are allegations; the office had not ruled on those complaints.

The postal worker had been warned in 2022 and ran again anyway, according to the office’s announcement. The VA employee submitted a resignation, lost the primary, then rescinded it and returned to work. On the other track, CREW’s letter names complaints against Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, open more than a year, and against Karoline Leavitt, Scott Bessent, Peter Navarro, Kristi Noem, and Stephen Miller.

How Enforcement Weakened in 2025 and 2026

The watchdog lost its leader, its referral practice, and, for six weeks, most of its staff. Hampton Dellinger, the Senate-confirmed Special Counsel, was fired on February 7, 2025, although the statute allows removal only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance. A court ruled for him on March 1, an appeals court lifted that order on March 5, and Dellinger dropped his case on March 6, so no court decided whether the protection holds. In June 2026 the Supreme Court overruled the 1935 precedent that such protections rest on, in Trump v. Slaughter.

On April 25, 2025, under acting leadership, the office rescinded a May 2024 advisory opinion. It went back to sending findings against White House staff who were not Senate-confirmed to the President instead of the board. It also let employees wear campaign gear for people who are not currently running, and it stopped filing new cases against people who had already left government.

The shutdown sidelined the watchdog. During the shutdown that ran from October 1 to November 12, 2025, the office kept 17 of its 122 employees on the job, and the Hatch Act Unit’s email answered that it was out of the office (Federal News Network; Cronkite News). The discipline board closed too. In those weeks, agency websites blamed the “Radical Left” for the shutdown, and Public Citizen filed 11 complaints. The Education Department rewrote furloughed employees’ out-of-office replies to blame “Democrat senators.” Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that it violated those employees’ First Amendment rights. On September 25, 2026, the office said some of those messages might have crossed the line, but it closed the more than 1,000 complaints without discipline because agencies had relied on its own 2024 advisory (Office of Special Counsel).

The office went 18 months without a confirmed leader. Paul Ingrassia, the first nominee, withdrew on October 21, 2025 after offensive text messages he had written were made public. The Senate confirmed Charles Baldis in August 2026. In a parallel change, the rule creating Schedule Policy/Career took effect in March 2026, and in June about 8,000 federal jobs were moved out of the civil-service protections that make firing slow.

Where Hatch Act Enforcement Stands

As of October 6, 2026

• Removal protection for the Special Counsel Law, untested

  Still in the statute. In Trump v. Slaughter on June 29, 2026, the Supreme Court struck down the FTC's for-cause protection; no court has ruled on the Special Counsel's since Dellinger dropped his case. (source)

• Shutdown messaging complaints Ended, no discipline

  On September 25, 2026, the office said some of the messages might have broken the law but no one would be disciplined, because employees relied on its 2024 advisory. It received more than 1,000 complaints about the White House and 37 agencies. (source)

• White House staff violations Agency action, April 2025

  Since April 25, 2025, findings against White House staff who are not Senate-confirmed go to the President for discipline, not the Merit Systems Protection Board. (source)

• Campaign gear and former employees Agency action, April 2025

  Since April 25, 2025, campaign items for people not currently running are allowed at work, and no new complaints are filed against people who have left government while the office litigates that question. (source)

• Hatch Act cases against rank-and-file employees Agency action, continuing

  On August 20, 2026, the office announced discipline complaints against a Postal Service worker and a VA worker who ran for state legislative seats; the Postal Service worker also raised campaign money. (source)

• H.R. 1688 and S. 806 Proposal, in committee

  Both were introduced February 27, 2025, and referred to committee the same day, with no action since. (source)

Source: Office of Special Counsel; Government Executive; Supreme Court of the United States; govinfo bill status

Both Parties Have Broken the Hatch Act

Officials appointed by presidents of both parties have been found in violation of the Hatch Act. A reform to how findings against appointees are handled would apply to every future administration, whichever party holds the White House.

Across these administrations, a finding against a Senate-confirmed appointee went to the President, and any penalty was the President’s decision.

Not Every Political Comment Breaks the Law

The Hatch Act does not turn federal employees into political mutes, and overstating it weakens the case for enforcing it. The 1993 reforms deliberately preserved the basic political rights of the workforce. The Act bans using the job, on-duty time, government property, an official title, or the power to solicit, for partisan ends.

Talking about policy at work is generally allowed. The Office of Special Counsel’s guidance says employees may tell a coworker what they think about health care, guns, or immigration. The same conversation becomes political activity when it is aimed at an election: the office’s own example is an employee who tags 50 coworkers the day before an election with a post that says “something to think about tomorrow.”

There is a real debate worth naming. One side says the Act is too weak because it has no teeth against appointees. The other worries that aggressive enforcement could chill legitimate speech. In 2025 the office dropped its year-round ban on campaign gear, saying the rule placed “too great a burden on First Amendment interests” (Government Executive). The transparency bill in Congress answers the first concern without touching the off-duty rights the 1993 amendments protect.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the president exempt from the Hatch Act?

Yes. The statute’s definition of “employee” excludes the President and Vice President, so they cannot violate it. When people say a president broke the Hatch Act, an appointee violated it and the President, who has the power to discipline that appointee, chose not to.

Is the Office of Special Counsel the same as a special counsel at the Justice Department?

No. The Office of Special Counsel is an independent watchdog agency that investigates Hatch Act violations and protects whistleblowers. A Justice Department special counsel is a prosecutor appointed to handle a specific criminal investigation. The two have similar names and different jobs.

What happens if you violate the Hatch Act?

It is an administrative matter, not a crime. For a career employee, the Merit Systems Protection Board can order removal, demotion, suspension, a reprimand, a ban from federal jobs of up to five years, or a civil fine that is capped at $1,365 after inflation adjustments. For top presidential appointees, the only remedy is a report to the President.

Does the Hatch Act apply to state and local employees?

In part. It covers state, D.C., and local employees whose work is connected to programs paid for with federal loans or grants. They may not run in partisan elections, use their official authority to affect an election, or pressure others to give money or do political work. The Office of Special Counsel has separate guidance for them.

Has Congress proposed a fix?

Yes. The Hatch Act Enforcement Transparency and Accountability Act, H.R. 1688 and S. 806, would require the Office of Special Counsel to report every Hatch Act complaint against a political appointee to Congress and to publish a written explanation whenever it declines to seek discipline against an appointee, other than a Senate-confirmed one, that it found in violation. Both bills have been in committee since February 2025.

What You Can Do

1. If you work for the government and are unsure, ask before you act. The Office of Special Counsel’s Hatch Act Unit answers questions about your own plans at (800) 854-2824 and hatchact@osc.gov.

2. If you see a violation, report it. File through the office’s Hatch Act complaint page with a screenshot, the date, and where it happened.

3. Ask your House member to co-sponsor H.R. 1688. It would make the watchdog tell Congress about every complaint against a political appointee and publish its reasons when it lets one go. It has five co-sponsors, all Democrats.

4. Ask your senators to co-sponsor S. 806. The Senate companion, from Senator Ben Ray Luján with Senator Martin Heinrich, does the same work.

5. See how the civil-service changes connect. The Schedule F explainer covers the jobs moved out of civil-service protection, and the executive orders explainer covers what a president can and cannot do by order.

6. Write your representative about Hatch Act enforcement. Use the letter below and ask for a clear, on-the-record position.