Hatch Act: Further Restricted vs. Less Restricted Employees

Under the Hatch Act, “less restricted” employees make up the bulk of the federal workforce and may actively participate in partisan political campaigns on their own time, while “further restricted” employees, who work at intelligence, law-enforcement, and certain adjudicatory agencies, are barred from that active partisan work even when off duty. Both groups keep the right to vote, donate money, express personal opinions, and attend political events. The line between them matters mainly for what you can do for a candidate or party outside of work.

The Two Tiers at a Glance

The Hatch Act sorts covered executive-branch employees into two categories based on how sensitive their agency or role is considered. Less restricted is the default. If your agency isn’t specifically named and you aren’t in one of the listed career positions, you’re less restricted. That covers most rank-and-file federal workers, including Postal Service employees.¹

Further restricted status is reserved for employees whose political neutrality Congress and the Office of Special Counsel treat as especially critical. The practical difference between the tiers shows up off the clock: less restricted employees can run a campaign in the evening, hold a party office, or organize a rally on a Saturday. Further restricted employees cannot do any of those things at any hour.

Which Employees Are Further Restricted

Further restricted status attaches to specific agencies and to a handful of career roles across government. The agency list includes the FBI, CIA, NSA, Secret Service, Defense Intelligence Agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, National Security Council, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Federal Election Commission, Election Assistance Commission, the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and National Security Division, the IRS Office of Criminal Investigation, the Customs Office of Investigative Programs, and ATF’s Office of Law Enforcement.²

Beyond those agencies, further restricted status also covers career members of the Senior Executive Service, administrative law judges, and employees of the Merit Systems Protection Board and the Office of Special Counsel itself.³ If you hold one of those positions, the tier follows the role rather than the agency you happen to work at.

What Less Restricted Employees Can Do Off Duty

Off the clock and away from federal workspace, less restricted employees have room to participate in partisan politics much like any other citizen. They can:

Actively manage a partisan candidate’s campaign
Hold office in a political party or club
Organize political rallies and meetings
Serve as a delegate at a party convention
Distribute campaign literature
Sign nominating petitions and join party organizations
Campaign for or against ballot measures like referendums and constitutional amendments⁴

All of that is permitted so long as it happens on personal time, outside a federal building, out of uniform, and without government resources. Less restricted employees still cannot solicit political contributions, run for partisan office themselves, or use their official authority to influence an election. Those bans apply to everyone the Act covers.

What Further Restricted Employees Cannot Do, Even Off Duty

Further restricted employees are barred from taking an “active part” in political management or political campaigns at any time.² The activities in the list above are off-limits regardless of duty status. Managing a candidate’s campaign, holding a party office, organizing a rally, serving as a convention delegate, and handing out campaign materials are all prohibited for this group even on weekends and evenings.

What further restricted employees can still do is meaningful, though narrower:

Vote and register to vote
Express personal opinions about candidates, parties, and issues
Attend political events, rallies, and fundraisers as a spectator or guest
Make financial contributions to campaigns, parties, and PACs
Join a political party (as a member, not an officeholder)
Campaign for or against nonpartisan ballot measures

The core idea is that further restricted employees keep the citizen’s role, including the checkbook, but give up the campaign worker’s role.

Social Media Rules That Differ by Tier

Social media is one of the clearest places the two tiers diverge in day-to-day life. Off duty and outside the workplace, a less restricted employee can post, like, share, and retweet content from a political party, a partisan candidate, or a partisan group. A further restricted employee cannot share or retweet posts from any of those sources at any time, on or off duty. Further restricted employees may still post their own opinions and may like a party’s or candidate’s account, provided they are off duty and outside federal space.⁵

Two rules apply to both tiers. First, while on duty or in a federal workspace (including during telework hours), no political posting, liking, sharing, or retweeting of any kind is allowed, even from a personal phone and even on a private account. Second, sharing or amplifying any post that asks for political donations is prohibited at all times, on duty or off.⁵

Rules That Apply to Both Groups

“Less restricted” is not “unrestricted.” A set of prohibitions applies to every covered employee, in either tier, around the clock:

Using official authority, title, or agency resources to influence an election
Soliciting, accepting, or receiving political contributions (with a narrow exception for asking non-subordinate co-workers to contribute to a multicandidate committee within your own federal labor organization)
Running as a candidate for partisan political office
Pressuring anyone with business before your agency (an applicant, contractor, licensee, or subject of an enforcement action) on political matters³

On-duty and workplace rules also apply equally. Whenever you’re on the clock, inside a federal building, wearing an official uniform, or using a government vehicle, no political activity of any kind is allowed. No campaign buttons, no bumper stickers on a government car, no partisan email from a work computer.⁶

Penalties Are the Same for Both Tiers

The tier you’re in changes what counts as a violation, not what happens if you commit one. The Office of Special Counsel investigates complaints against federal employees and prosecutes them before the Merit Systems Protection Board, which has exclusive authority to decide the case and set the penalty.⁷ Available penalties include a letter of reprimand, suspension without pay, reduction in grade, removal from federal employment, debarment from any federal job for up to five years, and a civil penalty of up to $1,000.⁸

The financial cap is modest and has not been adjusted for inflation. The career penalties are not. Removal and debarment are the real risk, and MSPB has confirmed it can adjudicate cases even after an employee leaves federal service, so resignation does not end a pending matter.

If you’re not sure which tier you’re in, or whether something you’re thinking of doing falls on the wrong side of the line, OSC issues advisory opinions and will answer questions by phone at (800) 854-2824 or (202) 254-3650. Asking first is safer than guessing.

1
U.S. Office of Special Counsel. Hatch Act Overview
2
U.S. Office of Special Counsel. A Guide to the Hatch Act for Federal Employees
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 7323 – Political Activity Authorized; Prohibitions
4
eCFR. Part 734 – Political Activities of Federal Employees
5
OSC.gov. Hatch Act Guidance on Social Media
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 7324 – Political Activities on Duty; Prohibition
7
eCFR. Part 734 – Political Activities of Federal Employees – Section: 734.102 Jurisdiction
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 US Code 7326 – Penalties