Personnel Management Office
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing a rule to increase career employee accountability. Agency supervisors report great difficulty removing employees for poor performance or misconduct. The final rule authorizes agencies to move policy-influencing positions into Schedule Policy/Career. These positions will remain career jobs filled on a nonpartisan basis. Yet they will be at-will positions excepted from adverse action procedures or appeals. This will allow agencies to quickly remove employees from critical positions who engage in misconduct, perform poorly, or obstruct the democratic process by intentionally subverting Presidential directives. The rule requires agencies to establish internal policies protecting employees from prohibited personnel practices.
Document Headings Document headings vary by document type but may contain the following: the agency or agencies that issued and signed a document the number of the CFR title and the number of each part the document amends, proposes to amend, or is directly related to the agency docket number / agency internal file number the RIN which identifies each regulatory action listed in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions See the Document Drafting Handbook for more details. Office of Personnel Management 5 CFR Parts 210, 212, 213, 302, 432, 451, 537, 575, and 752 [Docket ID: OPM-2025-0004] RIN 3206-AO80 ( printed page 5580) AGENCY: Office of Personnel Management. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing a rule to increase career employee accountability. Agency supervisors report great difficulty removing employees for poor performance or misconduct. The final rule authorizes agencies to move policy-influencing positions into Schedule Policy/Career. These positions will remain career jobs filled on a nonpartisan basis. Yet they will be at-will positions excepted from adverse action procedures or appeals. This will allow agencies to quickly remove employees from critical positions who engage in misconduct, perform poorly, or obstruct the democratic process by intentionally subverting Presidential directives. The rule requires agencies to establish internal policies protecting employees from prohibited personnel practices. DATES: Effective March 9, 2026. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Noah Peters, Senior Advisor to the Director, by email at employeeaccountability@opm.gov or by phone at (202) 606-293. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Executive Summary OPM is issuing final regulations to strengthen employee accountability and the democratic responsiveness of American Government, while addressing longstanding performance management challenges in the Federal workforce. The final rule amends OPM's regulations in 5 …
Other Federal Register documents from the same docket.
Citation: 91 FR 5580
