Hatch Act Checker

The Hatch Act, a 1939 federal law, limits some political activity by federal employees and by some state, D.C. and local employees who work on federally funded programs. OSC

This checker asks up to five short questions and links each rule it uses to the regulation or Office of Special Counsel guidance it comes from.

How This Checker Decides

• Except for the president and vice president, every civilian employee of the federal executive branch is covered by the Hatch Act, including Postal Service and part-time employees. OSC
• The Hatch Act sorts federal employees into two groups: further restricted and less restricted. OSC
• Employees outside the further restricted group may take an active part in political management and political campaigns, except where the law or the regulation expressly forbids it. 5 CFR 734.202
• Further restricted employees may not take an active part in political management or political campaigns, beyond what the rules for their group allow. 5 CFR 734.408
• No employee may engage in political activity while on duty, while wearing a uniform, badge or insignia that identifies the agency or the employee’s position, while in a federal building, or while using a government vehicle or a personal vehicle for official business. 5 CFR 734.306(a)
• An employee may not knowingly ask for, accept or receive a political contribution from anyone, apart from the narrow exceptions in the rule. 5 CFR 734.303(a)
• OSC calls this a 24/7 prohibition, separate from the ban on political activity on duty or in the workplace, so it applies off duty and away from work too. OSC

What Most Federal Employees May Do

• Employees outside the further restricted group may display campaign signs and buttons, circulate nominating petitions, canvass for votes, endorse or oppose partisan candidates in ads and campaign literature, speak at rallies and help manage a partisan campaign. None of it is allowed while on duty, while wearing a uniform, badge or insignia that identifies the agency or the employee’s position, in a federal building, or in a government vehicle or a personal vehicle used for official business. 5 CFR 734.2055 CFR 734.306(a)(1)-(4)
• Employees outside the further restricted group may join a party and take part in its activities, serve as a party officer or committee member or run for those posts, organize party groups, attend conventions and rallies, and serve as convention delegates. 5 CFR 734.204
• Employees outside the further restricted group may give money to a political party, a political group or a partisan candidate’s campaign committee. 5 CFR 734.208(a)
• Employees outside the further restricted group may serve as poll watchers or election judges and drive voters to the polls for a party or partisan candidate. 5 CFR 734.206

Who Is Further Restricted

• Further restricted employees include everyone at the Federal Election Commission, Election Assistance Commission, FBI, Secret Service, CIA, National Security Council, National Security Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, Merit Systems Protection Board, Office of Special Counsel, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and National Security Division. 5 CFR 734.401(a)
• The rule also names three enforcement offices: the IRS Office of Criminal Investigation, the Customs Service’s Office of Investigative Programs and the ATF Office of Law Enforcement. 5 CFR 734.401(a)
• Further restricted employees also include career Senior Executive Service members, administrative law judges, contract appeals board members and administrative appeals judges. 5 CFR 734.401(a)
• People the president appointed with Senate confirmation aren’t further restricted, even at a further restricted agency or in a further restricted position. 5 CFR 734.401(b)

Never on Duty or at Work

• No employee may engage in political activity while on duty, while wearing a uniform, badge or insignia that identifies the agency or the employee’s position, while in a federal building, or while using a government vehicle or a personal vehicle for official business. 5 CFR 734.306(a)
• An employee is on duty whenever in a pay status or representing the government officially; paid leave, compensatory time off, credit hours, award time off, excused absence and leave without pay don’t count as duty time. 5 CFR 734.101
• A federal building includes any federally owned or leased space where federal employees regularly do official work. 5 CFR 734.101
• The on-duty limit has no exception for a personal phone, computer or social media account. OSC

Penalties and Advice

• The Merit Systems Protection Board decides whether a violation happened and can impose removal, a reduction in grade, a ban from federal jobs of up to five years, a suspension, a reprimand or a civil penalty of up to $1,000. 5 CFR 734.102(b)
• The Office of Special Counsel investigates Hatch Act complaints and issues advisory opinions on how the rules apply to federal employees’ political activity. 5 CFR 734.102(a)
• The Office of Special Counsel gives advisory opinions to employees who ask about their own political activity, and employers may ask about their employees. OSC
• Ask its Hatch Act Unit by email at hatchact@osc.gov, by phone at 800-854-2824 or 202-804-7002, by fax at 202-254-3700, or by mail at 1730 M St. NW, Suite 218, Washington, D.C. 20036. OSC
• The law’s purposes are to keep federal programs nonpartisan, protect federal employees from political coercion at work, and make sure they advance on merit rather than political affiliation. OSC

Related GovFacts Articles

• The Hatch Act: How Federal Rules Ban Government Workers from Politics
• Federal Websites and the Limits on Partisan Political Messaging
• Political Appointees vs. Career Staff in the U.S. Government