Under the proposed rules—the deadline for comment is January 29—unions further could not use official time to help probationary employees prepare for appeals. Image: stockshutterit/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe NTEU union has put out a call to its members to oppose OPM’s recent rules proposal to take over from the MSPB the authority to decide appeals from probationary employees—already more limited than those available to those who have completed those periods—saying should not be in the hands of an agency “dedicated to carrying out the President’s agenda like OPM.”
“Also, OPM wants to deny probationary employees any right to a hearing or to obtaining necessary and relevant information from the agency to help with their appeal. Employees would also lose the choice they currently have to bring “mixed” cases involving discrimination allegations to either the MSPB or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,” it said.
Under the proposed rules—the deadline for comment is January 29—unions further could not use official time to help probationary employees prepare for such appeals, it said.
The union said it would be submitting its own formal comments to the rules proposal but provided a link for individuals to make comments as well, suggesting that they consider asserting that appeals “belong before a neutral, adjudicatory body” and that the proposed process “will be one-sided in favor of the agency and unfair.”
The notice followed rules that were proposed and then quickly finalized in mid-2025 stating that an agency must affirmatively decide to retain an employee at the end of that period, and eliminating a prior requirement that terminated employees be notified of their performance deficiencies.
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