The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) released a final rule on October 16 making changes to the probationary period and giving managers more tools to deal with poor performers. The final rule becomes effective on November 16.

Government Executive provided an overview of the new rules in this article. The new rules enhance the probationary period by reminding managers of when the end of an employee’s one-year probationary period is three months and one month away. They also “streamline the process by which agencies can demote or fire workers for ‘unacceptable’ performance, clarifying that agencies are not required to help employees improve or provide an improvement period longer than the law requires . . . The regulations also bar agencies from agreeing to settlements with employees where the workers agree to resign in exchange for having adverse personnel actions stripped from their employment records.”

FMA submitted comments in the rulemaking process, broadly supporting the changes that are about to take effect. To read FMA’s comments, please click here. OPM stated it received almost 1,200 comments on the proposed rules.

In response to criticism of the proposed rules, OPM said, “National unions, organizations and many other commenters urged OPM to withdraw the proposed rule and consider what they believe to be more reasoned and equitable approaches to addressing employee probation, and employee performance and conduct concerns,” the regulations state. “[We] disagree with the commenters’ contention that the proposed rule does not streamline and clarify procedures and requirements to better support managers in addressing unacceptable performance and pursuing adverse actions. We decline to make changes based on these comments because the proposed rule effectuates changes that, in fact, make procedures more efficient and effective.”