The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) recently finalized rules to seize appeals process power from the Merit Systems Protections Board (MSPB), including suitability and RIF appeals. Reaction to the effort was mixed, with some supportive of the goal to reduce the time required to handle these cases, while others expressed concern that consolidating and centralizing these processes limits independent checks.

The purpose of the now-final rule regarding suitability is “to streamline suitability action appeals procedures, thereby improving the efficiency, rigor and timeliness by which OPM and agencies resolve challenges to suitability actions and ensure the integrity and efficiency of the service.” The end result of the rulemaking would consolidate decision making and give OPM more power over the federal employees’ appeals process.

Pursuant to the rule, OPM will handle adjudication of suitability appeals instead of the Merit Systems Protection Board. The action follows President Trump’s executive order to take over these appeals.

“OPM believes that removing suitability appeals from MSPB will result in faster resolution for individuals and agencies,” the rule states. According to OPM, MSPB’s average case processing time for processing initial appeals between FY 2022 through 2024 was 109 days. OPM expects its process, conducted by a new appeals unit housed at the agency, will greatly reduce the time required to process these cases, utilizing the written record and a potential hearing.

Similarly, OPM’s office of Merit System Accountability and Compliance will take over appeals related to an agency’s reduction in force (RIF). OPM called the current process, which also includes the MSPB, “unnecessarily lengthy and expensive.”

“OPM expects this change will promote greater efficiency and reduce costs to agencies in effectuating RIF actions, which may be necessary in a variety of circumstances, such as to eliminate duplicative or unnecessary functions or align agency workforces with new technology, changing mission needs, or budgetary constraints,” the rule states. Of the 1,250 public comments OPM received to this rulemaking, 99 percent were in opposition.

In a blog post, OPM Director Scott Kupor addressed the new rules as improving a process hampered by a backlog of cases at MSPB. Kupor wrote OPM’s processes are “designed to be faster, more efficient, and critically, structurally independent.”