OPM Issues Guidance on Implementing Civil Service Protections

Federal agencies were issued new guidance on how to implement regulations designed to boost civil service protections.

The guidance from Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Acting Director Rob Shriver is meant to “assist agencies and employees in interpreting and applying certain requirements of the rule.”

OPM issued regulations to bolster civil service protections in April and to guard against a return of Schedule F, the Trump-era executive order that aimed to reclassify large swathes of the civil service as at-will employees, therefore making it easier for them to be fired.

However, efforts to codify civil service protections have not advanced in Congress, meaning that former President Trump or another president could reinstate Schedule F and walk back the OPM regulations.

OPM’s Schedule F Protections

Under the Trump-era rule, certain positions “of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character” would be exempt from civil service protections.

The OPM rule aims to prevent that by whittling down the definition of “policy-related” jobs to noncareer political appointments only.

It establishes procedural requirements for moving positions from the competitive service to the excepted service and within the excepted service.

The rule clarifies that the status and civil service protections a federal employee has accrued cannot be taken away by an involuntary move from the competitive service to the excepted service, or from one excepted service schedule to another.

And it includes an appeals process should an employee be moved involuntarily.

The final rule was issued on April 9, 2024. OPM received and reviewed more than 4,000 public comments on the rule.

In his memo, Acting Director Shriver emphasizes that members of the Senior Executive Service (SES) are not covered by the final rule and that appeals rights are only for employees who currently have such protection.

It also includes a detailed section on requirements for moving employees between the different services and approvals needed.

For instance, if a job is moved out of the competitive service, an agency must write to the affected employee at least 30 days before the job move.

Agencies must also submit a written list to OPM ahead of job reclassifications.