OPM Proposes Regulations Repealing Previous Administration’s Firing Policy
Last Tuesday, January 4, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), issued a proposed rule to rescind Trump-era regulations, which became effective November 16, 2020, related to disciplining and firing federal employees. The rule would implement the directive of two executive orders that President Biden signed in 2021. The summary of the rule explains that the regulatory changes “support implementation of an Executive Order to empower agencies to rebuild the career Federal workforce and protect the civil service rights of their employees, while preserving appropriate mechanisms for pursuing personnel actions where warranted.”
OPM had issued the previous, Trump-era regulations pursuant to a 2018 executive order by President Trump. Those regulations included shortening the amount of time that employees had to respond to misconduct allegations, requiring agencies to inform supervisors when an employee’s one-year probationary period is nearing its end, and clarifying that agencies are not required to help underperforming employees improve.
The newly proposed rule would rescind those changes; OPM argued that the previous regulations placed unnecessary restrictions on agencies to address probationary period matters, removal procedures and how to deal with underperforming employees. OPM will accept comments on the proposed rule through February 3.
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