Agencies have been told to identify SES positions to be reverted to being open to political appointments, if those positions were made career-only under Biden. Image: Valery Evlakhov/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffOPM has told agencies to review which senior executive positions are reserved for career members of the SES vs. those that also are open to being filled by political appointees, telling them to use the same designations as in the first Trump administration.
“The White House has received reports that, towards the end of the prior administration, agencies redesignated Senior Executive Service positions traditionally held by a noncareer appointee, from “general” to “career reserved”, meaning they can only be held by career employees,” says a memo on chcoc.gov.
“Positions that, in the first Trump administration, were seen as appropriately held by noncareer appointees, or by either career or noncareer appointees, should retain that status under the current administration. Congress was clear that a SES ‘position shall be designated as a career reserved position only if the filling of the position by a career appointee is necessary to ensure the impartiality, or the public’s confidence in the impartiality, of the government,’” it says.
It tells agencies to review the status of SES positions as of the end of the first Trump administration and “promptly take all necessary actions to revert such positions back to the general designation.” However, if an agency “believes that the President’s goals and priorities would be better served by keeping any such positions as career reserved positions,” it may ask OPM to maintain that designation.
Traditionally, about half of SES positions are designated as career-reserved, although government-wide only 10 percent of positions may be filled by appointees, and no more than 25 percent in any one agency.
The memo quickly follows another from OPM telling agencies that CIO positions held by senior execs should not be designated as reserved to career SESers on grounds that while those positions require a level of technical expertise, they also are involved with policy matters related to IT.
It also represents the Trump administration’s latest move to review and potentially reverse actions taken late in the Biden administration, following a directive telling agencies not to give final approval to any labor-management reached within a month of the transition.
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