The Interior Department has lifted a personnel freeze put in place by the Trump administration earlier this year amid layoff plans at the more than 60,000-strong agency.
In a Monday memorandum from Chief Human Capital Officer Rachel Borra, the department ended its seven-month block on personnel changes that included career promotions, reassignments, changes in duty stations, hardship transfers and any new hiring.
Some agencies had received special permission to post jobs, such as positions at the National Park Service currently listed on USAjobs.gov. But some at national parks have bemoaned the strain of operating with vacant jobs, which include both seasonal positions and permanent slots.
The new order stresses that Interior offices must continue to follow the administration’s controls on hiring. That would include the Office of Personnel Management’s directive, in compliance with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, to cut four positions for every new hire to government service.
