Deleted labels showing pending deletion status

Before waiting longer, check whether the deleted label GUID is still referenced anywhere. In Security & Compliance PowerShell, capture the current state with:

Get-Label -Identity "<GUID>" | Format-List Guid,DisplayName,Mode,ParentId

Get-LabelPolicy | Format-List Name,Labels,Settings

1. Search the policy output for the deleted label GUID, including parent/sublabel relationships.

2. If a publishing policy still contains it, remove the label from that policy and publish the policy change.

3. Do not run Remove-Label repeatedly and do not delete an archived protection template used by encrypted documents.

4. Record the original deletion time, tenant region, GUID and PowerShell output.

5. If the GUID has no remaining policy dependency but is still PendingDeletion after several days, open a Microsoft Purview service request and ask for backend object cleanup.

Use a temporary unique display name for any replacement label rather than trying to reuse the reserved name immediately. Once support confirms that the old object and protection references are fully cleared, you can decide whether renaming is appropriate.