WASHINGTON, D.C. (Federal News Network) — Agencies will soon get leeway to promote federal employees more quickly, after the Office of Personnel Management on Monday finalized regulations to eliminate a longstanding “time-in-grade” restriction.
The now-rescinded rule had previously required General Schedule employees to work in their current paygrade for one year before becoming eligible for a promotion.
“It was probably a well-intentioned idea at one point in time, but to me, this is what I would quite frankly just consider an anti-merit-based principle,” OPM Director Scott Kupor said in an exclusive interview with Federal News Network. “If [employees] truly are performing above and beyond what we expect at that level, we should be able to promote them as necessary and as appropriate, in whatever timeframe the managers deem appropriate.”
Eliminating the time-in-grade rule doesn’t automatically entitle federal employees to a promotion after one year, nor does it compel agencies to promote employees earlier in all cases, OPM said in its final rule. Agencies may continue including additional prerequisites for a promotion, such as demonstrated competencies and required training. The change becomes effective Jan. 19, 2027.
“It now gives managers the flexibility and ability to move people at the pace that is appropriate with their demonstrated skills,” Kupor said.
Some organizations, however, have raised questions about the possibility of favoritism or subjectivity arising in promotion decisions. While generally supportive of the time-in-grade elimination, the Partnership for Public Service argued that the rule should also be replaced with a new system that ensures accelerated promotions are objective and merit-based.
“Managers and HR offices will not automatically know how to implement this new process well. This will require deliberate investment in guardrails, training and oversight, not just the removal of a rule,” Partnership for Public Service President and CEO Max Stier said in July public comments on the proposed rule. “OPM should identify both best practices as well as some structure for ensuring employees aren’t moved to higher grades without the correct procedures, which includes skills assessment, strong performance management and alignment with agencies planning.”
Democracy Forward, an organization that has been critical of the Trump administration, similarly said it was not opposed to removing time-in-grade rule, but questioned OPM’s decision to eliminate the regulations without creating new “meaningful standards,” particularly amid major federal workforce overhauls.
“The Trump-Vance administration has focused on employee loyalty and repeatedly sought to expand political control over career hiring, firing, performance management and workforce structure,” wrote Rob Shriver, managing director of Democracy Forward’s Civil Service Strong and Good Government initiatives. “In that context, eliminating [time-in-grade] without replacement safeguards creates the obvious risk of accelerated promotions and pay increases that can be used to reward loyalists or politically aligned employees, including Trump-era hires, while bypassing equally or more qualified career employees.”
Michael Fallings, managing partner at Tully Rinckey law firm, said without a real replacement, the lack of promotion standards will reduce clarity for federal employees seeking to understand how they can move up to the next grade level.
“I do understand the decision-making that time in grade is a bit archaic, but it does need to be replaced with something that still provides some clarity and some objectivity for employees rather than just relying purely based on performance,” Fallings said in an interview. “OPM should recognize that there is going to be more subjectivity and potential for favoritism by managers.”
