- Federal job offers accepted before Monday with start dates after February 8 are revoked, a memo said.
- The Office of Personnel Management said agency heads could seek written approval to renew an offer.
- Agencies must also report monthly on job offers, hires, departures, and head count, the memo said.
Newly hired federal workers expecting to start their jobs next month could soon see their offers yanked by the federal government.
A memo providing further guidance on President Donald Trump’s executive order mandating federal hiring freezes told federal agencies that “offers made and accepted prior to January 20” with an unconfirmed start date or one later than February 8 were revoked.
The memo, written by the Office of Management and Budget and Office of Personnel Management and sent to the heads of executive departments and federal agencies on Monday, said that if people were hired before noon on Monday and had a start date earlier than February 8, their offers could remain in place.
“Those individuals should report to work according to their respective designated start date,” the memo said.
Even if a job offer is rescinded, it might not be a done deal for the candidate. The memo said that the head of an agency could seek written approval from the OPM to renew the employee’s offer after considering “essential mission priorities, current agency resources, and funding levels.”
The memo also called for reports on the last day of each month from agencies subject to the hiring freeze. The reports should have information about candidates who were extended or accepted offers, employees who started that month, and employees who departed that month. The reviews are also required to list the total staff head count and any positions listed online, the memo said.
In a separate memo sent the same day, Charles Ezell, the acting director of the OPM, asked leaders of all federal agencies to evaluate their workforces and consider firing employees who had been there less than two years.
The memo requested that agencies identify all employees on probationary periods and “promptly determine whether those employees should be retained at the agency” by Friday.
Trump’s federal hiring freeze went into effect on Inauguration Day, preventing any vacant positions that existed before 11:59 a.m. on Monday from being filled and restricting the creation of positions. There are some exceptions to the freeze, including roles tied to “immigration enforcement, national security, or public safety” and positions requiring “Presidential appointment or Senate confirmation,” the memo said.
The OPM move is in line with broader Trump-administration efforts to reduce the size of the federal workforce.
The Department of Government Efficiency, an Elon Musk-led commission, is also working to recommend ways that the Trump administration can cut the size of the federal workforce, reduce regulations and federal budgets, and improve efficiency.
The OPM declined to comment. The Trump administration and the OMB did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Correction, January 22 — An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the memo’s date. It was Monday, January 20, not January 8.
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