The federal hiring freeze in effect for fiscal year 2026 operates under Executive Order 14356, signed in October 2025, which replaced the blanket January 2025 pause with a four-to-one hiring ratio, agency Strategic Hiring Committees, and Annual Staffing Plans reviewed by the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget.1The White House. Ensuring Continued Accountability in Federal Hiring No vacant civilian position may be filled and no new position created except through that approval process or as required by law. The order has no expiration date.
What the Current Rules Actually Say
The framework isn’t a total ban. Each agency may hire no more than one new employee for every four who leave, and only departures during the current fiscal year count. Agencies cannot bank reductions from the deferred resignation wave earlier in 2025 to justify FY 2026 hires.2U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Guidance on Executive Order 14356, Ensuring Continued Accountability in Federal Hiring The ratio holds until an agency has an approved Annual Staffing Plan on file.
Every hire and every newly created position requires written approval from the agency’s Strategic Hiring Committee, which must include the deputy agency head and the chief of staff. Agencies were required to stand these committees up within 30 days of EO 14356 and submit their Annual Staffing Plans within 60 days, coordinated with OPM and OMB. Plans have to identify highest-need positions, eliminate duplicative functions, and reduce unnecessary contractor roles. Progress updates are due quarterly.1The White House. Ensuring Continued Accountability in Federal Hiring
Who Is Exempt
Several categories fall outside the freeze so essential functions keep running:
- Military personnel, who are not civilian employees.
- Positions in immigration enforcement, national security, and public safety, which also sit outside the four-to-one ratio.
- Roles tied to Social Security, Medicare, and veterans’ benefits, which the original memorandum specifically protected from adverse effects.
- Presidential and political appointments, including Senate-confirmed positions, non-career Senior Executive Service roles, and Schedule A or C positions in the Excepted Service.
- Exemptions granted by the OPM Director. Exemptions previously issued under the January and July 2025 memoranda remain in effect unless OPM withdraws them.
Agency heads can request additional exemptions for specialized roles with a written mission-critical justification. Any approved hire has to be reported in writing to OPM once the Strategic Hiring Committee signs off.1The White House. Ensuring Continued Accountability in Federal Hiring
How the Freeze Got to Its Current Form
The restrictions rolled out in three stages. On January 20, 2025, a Presidential Memorandum froze all vacant federal civilian positions as of noon that day and barred creation of new ones, with carve-outs for military, immigration enforcement, national security, and public safety.3The White House. Hiring Freeze The freeze was supposed to lapse within 90 days once OMB delivered a workforce reduction plan. It didn’t. A July 7, 2025, memorandum extended the restrictions, and EO 14356 in October 2025 established the framework now in place.
If You Have a Pending Offer
Federal hiring involves two offers, and the difference between them is where most applicants get stuck.
A Tentative Job Offer is conditional. It signals selection but depends on completing a background investigation and, for some roles, a medical clearance. Agencies generally cannot convert a tentative offer into a Final Job Offer while the freeze is active. Many tentative offers have been placed on indefinite hold or rescinded.
A Final Job Offer includes a specific start date and represents a firm commitment. Candidates who received a final offer before the freeze took effect have generally been allowed to start as scheduled. If you were between the two stages when the freeze hit, you likely found yourself in limbo with no clear timeline.
The IRS is a special case. The January 2025 memorandum kept the freeze in place at the IRS until the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with OMB, determines lifting it is in the national interest.3The White House. Hiring Freeze IRS applicants have faced some of the longest delays.
Security Clearances Often Keep Moving
Background investigations frequently continue even while a hiring action is paused. The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency handles most federal background checks and is funded separately, so its investigators generally keep working through freezes and shutdowns. Agencies don’t have an automatic mechanism to halt an investigation once it starts; stopping it requires the agency to affirmatively dis-affiliate the applicant, which doesn’t consistently happen.
If DCSA contacts you for a clearance interview, completing it is usually the right call. A finished investigation stays in the system, and eligibility on record can speed up onboarding once an exemption comes through or the freeze lifts.
Term Employees, Contractors, and Pathways Interns
If you’re already on a term or temporary appointment, the freeze does not prevent your agency from extending you. OPM’s initial guidance confirmed that agencies may extend existing term and temporary appointments up to the maximum time limit allowed under the authority used for the original appointment.4U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Federal Civilian Hiring Freeze Guidance Extending an existing employee is treated differently from bringing a new person on board.
Contractors are technically outside the freeze, which covers only federal civilian employees. But both the January 2025 memorandum and EO 14356 explicitly prohibit agencies from contracting outside the government to circumvent the freeze, and EO 14356 requires agencies to reduce unnecessary or low-value contractor positions in their Annual Staffing Plans.1The White House. Ensuring Continued Accountability in Federal Hiring
Pathways Program participants sit in an awkward spot. OPM’s January 2025 guidance said Pathways Internship and Presidential Management Fellows appointments made before the freeze should be reviewed case by case, and agencies should tell those employees their appointments are provisional and retention is not guaranteed.4U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Federal Civilian Hiring Freeze Guidance The Recent Graduates program was not included in that carve-out. Whether a Pathways intern gets converted to a permanent role depends on the agency and whether the position qualifies for an exemption.
If Your Offer Was Rescinded
The applicants hit hardest are those who quit a previous job, signed a lease, or turned down other opportunities based on a federal offer that was later pulled. Legal remedies are narrow, but a few things are worth knowing.
Appeal Rights Are Limited
The Merit Systems Protection Board has consistently held that it lacks jurisdiction over the withdrawal of a tentative job offer when the applicant never entered on duty. An applicant who hasn’t started working doesn’t have “employee” status with Board appeal rights, and an agency can revoke a tentative appointment before entrance on duty without that revocation being appealable. Candidates with a final offer who were prevented from starting may have marginally stronger footing, but MSPB jurisdiction over nonselection is very narrow and generally requires a claim under a specific statute such as the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act or the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act.
Health Coverage
If you resigned to accept the federal position, you probably lost employer-sponsored health coverage. Federal COBRA allows you to continue your former employer’s group health plan for up to 18 months after a voluntary resignation, provided the employer had 20 or more employees and you were enrolled before leaving.5U.S. Department of Labor. COBRA Continuation Coverage You pay the full premium plus a 2% administrative fee, which for many people runs several hundred dollars more per month than the employee share. Smaller employers may fall under a state mini-COBRA equivalent. Losing job-based coverage also triggers a Special Enrollment Period, giving you 60 days to sign up for a Marketplace plan outside open enrollment.
Unemployment
Unemployment eligibility after quitting for a rescinded federal offer varies by state. Most states require a termination or layoff rather than a voluntary resignation, but some recognize quitting for a confirmed job offer that later falls through as “good cause.” File with your state’s unemployment office and bring documentation: your offer letter, correspondence about the rescission, and a timeline. Outcomes depend heavily on state rules and the specific claims examiner.
Probationary Employees
The freeze has overlapped with a separate wave of probationary employee terminations. Federal employees in their first year or two of service have fewer protections than career employees and more limited MSPB appeal rights. In early 2025, multiple agencies carried out mass terminations of probationary staff. Courts intervened in some cases, requiring agencies to notify affected employees that terminations were not based on individual performance, and some agencies re-issued termination notices with revised justifications. The Office of Special Counsel dropped many of these cases after concluding it lacked jurisdiction because the firings were part of a large-scale workforce reduction rather than individual adverse actions. If you were terminated during your probationary period, the legal picture is still shifting, and outcomes have depended on the agency and how the termination was executed.
When the Freeze Ends
EO 14356 has no expiration. It ends when the President rescinds it or issues a new directive. Until then, agencies operate under their Annual Staffing Plans and the four-to-one ratio, with quarterly compliance updates to OPM and OMB.1The White House. Ensuring Continued Accountability in Federal Hiring
A formal end doesn’t mean instant hiring. Agencies have to review stalled applications, confirm which positions still fit their approved staffing plans, and restart recruitment cycles that may have gone dormant for months. Some positions won’t be funded anymore. Others will have been restructured or eliminated during the pause. Even after a rescission, most agencies would need several months to rebuild their pipelines and start bringing new employees on board.