In late September, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) proposed a new rule aimed at protecting merit system principles across the federal government. All comments are due on or before November 17, 2023. OPM briefed FMA National President Craig Carter and the national office staff on the proposed rules, and FMA plans to provide comments in support. Additionally, you are invited to comment directly to OPM if you are inclined to do so.

Below is a brief summary of the proposed rule, which helps ensure due process for civil servants:

Proposed Rule: 5 CFR Parts 210, 212, 213, 302, 432, 451, and 752 – OPM is proposing a rule to reinforce and clarify longstanding civil service protections and merit system principles, codified in law, as they relate to the movement of federal employees and positions from the competitive service to the excepted service, or from one excepted service schedule to another.

First, it clarifies that, upon such a move, an employee retains the status and civil service protections they had already accrued by law, unless the employee relinquishes such rights or status by voluntarily encumbering a position that explicitly results in a loss of, or different, rights.

Second, it interprets ‘‘confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating’’ and ‘‘confidential or policy-determining’’ to describe positions, generally excepted from civil service protections, in accordance with statutory text, legislative history for that text, and congressional intent, to reinforce the interpretation that this term was intended to mean noncareer, political appointments.

Third, it provides specific additional procedures that apply when moving positions from the competitive service to the excepted service, or from one excepted service schedule to another, for the purposes of good administration, to add transparency, and to provide employees with a right of appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB or Board) to the extent any such move purportedly strips employees of their civil service status and protections.

You can view the proposed rule here:

https://fedmanagers.org/fma/fi...