The Trump administration is proposing to make it easier for the government to fire and discipline underperforming federal employees in what the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is calling an effort to promote accountability across the federal workforce.
In a proposed rule published in the Federal Register on July 2, OPM and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) proposed streamlining the process for administering performance improvement plans (PIPs) and simplifying how the MSPB reviews employee appeals of adverse personnel actions.
Under the proposed rule, the default PIP period would be limited to 30 days to avoid what the administration says are unnecessarily lengthy improvement plans established by managers. Employees would be required to demonstrate performance at a “fully successful” level to avoid further action, rather than meeting what OPM describes as the current standard of marginal improvement.
If an employee does not successfully complete the PIP, the rule would allow managers to begin removal proceedings immediately rather than first taking progressive disciplinary action.
When an adverse action is appealed to the MSPB, the board would no longer evaluate managers’ decisions using its current 12-factor framework. Instead, the proposed rule says the board would apply what the administration describes as a simplified “totality of the circumstances” test when reviewing cases.
OPM and the MSPB are accepting public comments on the proposed rule for 30 days. The proposal also would require federal managers to receive training on accountability procedures and workforce management.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) – which represents more than 820,000 federal and Washington, D.C. government workers – condemned the proposed rule, saying it would strip away longstanding safeguards for federal employees and make it harder for unions to defend them.
“The Trump administration is attempting to unravel nearly 50 years of established precedent that has functioned well for both federal workers, agencies, and American taxpayers as part of a coordinated campaign targeting federal workers and their rights,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley.
But OPM Director Scott Kupor defended the changes in a blog post, saying they would bring needed accountability to the federal workforce.
“I realize some of you may be reading this and thinking: “Wow, this sounds harsh. Why is it a goal to make it easier to get rid of an employee?” Kupor wrote.
“…But simply put, we have made the disciplinary and removal process too complicated and inefficient…When employees are unable (or unwilling) to perform their responsibilities and when given an opportunity to correct their behavior and demonstrate satisfactory performance remain unable to do so, leaving them in the organization jeopardizes the fundamental success of the entire team,” Kupor added. “That serves nobody well and the American people are worse for the wear.”
The proposed rule comes amid the White House’s sweeping campaign to downsize the federal workforce.
Overall, a total of 348,219 people quit, retired, were laid off or otherwise left federal employment last year, shrinking the federal workforce by 10.3 percent, according to a report from the Pew Research Center in March.
The proposed rule also appears to connect the changes to the administration’s broader workforce reduction efforts.
“The need to promote accountability within the federal workforce comes at a critical time,” the proposed rule states, “to ensure that the federal government meets the needs of the American people while agencies seek to eliminate waste and find efficiencies to deliver on their missions.”