WASHINGTON, D.C. (FEDweek) — OPM has exempted political appointees under Schedule C and Schedule G from performance appraisal requirements, potentially a precedent for doing the same with career employees under Schedule Policy/Career.
“Schedule C and Schedule G GS employees serve in the excepted service under political appointments and thus are effectively ‘at-will’ employees. As such, retention and removal actions for these employees do not depend on formal performance ratings,” says a memo exempting them from having performance standards, progress reviews and annual formal ratings.
Said Michael Fallings, managing partner at the Tully Rinckey PLLC law firm, “this is paving the way for ending the performance procedures for Schedule Policy/Career employees and further making them at-will employees. This may not require a change in law given that the administration has reclassified these employees and this reflects the administration’s continued effort to formally make these employees at-will.”
Rules finalizing Schedule P/C have been issued but there has been no public indication of employees being converted into it; approval by President Trump apparently is still pending of a list of some 50,000 positions recommended by agencies.
While Schedule C is a longstanding authority for appointees below the level requiring Senate confirmation, Schedule G was put in place only last year. Schedule G applies to political appointees serving in the types of “confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating” roles covering career employees in Schedule Policy/Career. An OPM database shows about 2,000 employees under Schedule C but does not account for Schedule G; the numbers likely are far lower.
The memo notes that those under Schedules C and G are eligible for regular within-grade increases, paid after certain lengths of time so long as the employee’s work “is at an acceptable level of competence.” Agencies are to establish their own procedures for making those determinations short of using a formal appraisal process.
The memo also points to an ongoing freeze on political appointees receiving discretionary awards, bonuses, quality step increases and similar performance-based incentive payments—which does not apply to career employees—making formal performance evaluations of Schedule C and G employees not necessary for that consideration.
The action is the latest in a series by the administration regarding employee performance ratings. Rules pending finalization would begin use of forced distributions—what OPM calls “standardized” ratings—in rating GS and wage grade employees, and would end the right of union-represented employees to challenge those ratings through negotiated grievance processes.
While the proposal does not specify a desired pattern, OPM has cited as a model the policy already in place for the Senior Executive Service—which is largely career—limiting to 30 percent the number who can be rated in the top two levels.
