Performance ratings would have leap-frogged over veterans preference and years of service, as called for by one of the Trump administration’s 2018 set of executive orders. Image: Postmodern Studio/Shutterstock.com
OPM is set to issue a reminder that the Biden administration in early 2021 withdrew rules proposed by the Trump administration the prior year to increase the role of performance evaluations in deciding which federal employees stay or go in a reduction in force.
“OPM withdrew the proposed rule on March 12, 2021, but in an abundance of caution issues this clarification reiterating that the proposed rule is withdrawn,” says a notice prepared for publication in the December 26 Federal Register.
The late-2020 proposal would have kept the type of appointment as the first retention factor, with employees on permanent appointments always being protected ahead of those on temporary or term appointments.
However, performance ratings would have leap-frogged over veterans preference and years of service, as called for by one of the Trump administration’s 2018 set of executive orders on federal workplace policies.
The new notice in effect signals that to put such a policy in effect, the incoming Trump administration would have to begin the notice and comment period anew, rather than merely pick up with the proposal from 2020. His second administration is expected to act quickly to reinstate the federal workforce policies of the first—some of which, such as the proposed RIF rules, never took effect before being revoked by the Biden administration.
The incoming administration’s emphasis on cutting federal employment levels also has raised the prospect of wider use of the rarely-invoked RIF procedures, although much of the emphasis has been on attrition, rather than layoffs.
Under current policy, after type of appointment, preference is next given to veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30 percent or more, then others with veterans status, and then non-veterans. Next is length of actual service, with performance the last factor. The most recent three ratings of record are used to artificially increase years of service, with 20 additional years for an “outstanding” rating, 16 additional years for an “exceeds fully successful” rating; and 12 additional years for a “fully successful” rating.
Under the proposed 2020 rules, preference for permanent employees would have first been sorted by the most recent three ratings, given a numeric value (5 for outstanding, 4 for exceeds fully successful and so on) and averaged together. After that would have come veterans preference and then actual years of service.
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