OPM would make its decisions based only on the written record and employees would not be entitled to a hearing process. Image: Andrii Yalanskyi/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe OPM has proposed rules in which it would take over from the MSPB the consideration of appeals from federal employees who are fired on grounds that they no longer are “suitable” for their positions, as well as from applicants who are denied employment on those grounds.
“OPM is proposing to no longer permit individuals in any status, whether an applicant, appointee, or employee . . . to appeal suitability actions to the MSPB. At the same time, OPM proposes to introduce new procedures by which an individual may appeal a suitability action to OPM,” says the proposal for comment in the February 6 Federal Register.
Under those procedures, OPM would make its decisions based only on the written record and employees would not be entitled to a hearing process, although OPM could conduct further investigations and hearings at its discretion. Also at its discretion, OPM could reconsider its decision on the request of either party, but there would be no right of appeal beyond OPM.
The proposal—which came several days ahead of a similar one (see related story) regarding RIF appeal rights—follows a presidential memo of last March telling OPM to take a direct role in disciplining employees of other agencies by invoking those considerations. Suitability considerations involves whether an individual’s past conduct and actions may introduce risk to an agency’s mission; they traditionally have arisen mainly only in the pre-employment context.
Afterward, OPM proposed rules under which it could fire employees of other agencies on grounds that they are unsuitable for federal employment on misconduct grounds, leaving affected employees fewer legal protections than if their agency used standard disciplinary channels on the same grounds.
Says the latest proposal addressing appeal rights under that policy, “OPM believes that removing suitability appeals from MSPB will result in faster resolution for individuals and agencies . . . While individuals may lack some procedural mechanisms if appeals are transferred to OPM as proposed in this rule, OPM believes streamlining the process will not have a consequential impact upon the substantive outcomes of the appeals, while improving the efficiency and consistency of the process.”
The new rules proposal follows a recent similar one to shift to the OPM appeals of probationary employees, who may file challenges on limited grounds. The in-house process at OPM would work much in the same way for them.
A group of Democratic Senators said that such a process would allow OPM to “direct agencies to make probationary terminations and then adjudicate those same actions, eliminating any meaningful independence.”
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See also,
Calculating Service Credit for Sick Leave At Retirement
FERS Supplement vs The 10% Pension Bonus
How Your FERS, Social Security and TSP Payments Get Taxed
Where Should I Put My TSP in Retirement
