04/04/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 04/04/2024 05:14
Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) today announced a final rule that clarifies and reinforces long-standing protections and merit system principles for career civil servants.
"Career federal employees deliver critical services for Americans in every community," said OPM Director Kiran Ahuja."This final rule honors our 2.2 million career civil servants, helping ensure that people are hired and fired based on merit and that they can carry out their duties based on their expertise and not political loyalty. The Biden-Harris Administration is deeply committed to the federal workforce, as these professionals are vital to our national security, our health, our economic prosperity, and much more."
"Nonpartisan civil servants make sure our food is safe and our water is clean. They protect us from national security threats, care for veterans, and support our seniors," said OPM Deputy Director Rob Shriver. "This final rule builds on three years of the Biden-Harris Administration's efforts to strengthen federal agencies and the federal workforce."
"The Biden-Harris Administration knows that career civil servants are the backbone of the federal workforce and should be able to provide the expertise and experience necessary for the critical functioning of the federal government," saidWhite House Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director for Management Jason Miller. "As part of the President's Management Agenda, it is a clear policy of the United States government to protect, empower, and rebuild the career federal workforce, and this final rule does just that."
In the first week of the Biden-Harris Administration, President Biden revoked an Executive Order issued by the previous Administration that risked altering our country's long-standing merit-based civil service system, by creating new excepted service schedule, known as "Schedule F," and directing agencies to move potentially large swathes of career employees into this new excepted service status. This attempt would have stripped career civil servants of their civil service protections that ensure that decisions to hire and fire are based on merit, not political considerations.
The final rule advances these important policy goals by:
OPM issued the final rule after reviewing and responding to more than 4,000 comments submitted by the public in an open and transparent policy-making process. The final rule will be published in the Federal Register on Thursday, April 4.