U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce

Federal employees who call our offices to get information about filing a classification appeal frequently ask how long will it take to get a decision and what are their chances of receiving a favorable decision. Because of the investigative work and analysis that we must do in each case, we cannot answer that question in individual cases. However, we can provide a historical perspective.

Of the appeals we accept:
About 75 percent are decided by the Office of Personnel Management;
About 11 percent are withdrawn by the employee; and
About 14 percent are cancelled by the Office of Personnel Management.

Of the appeals we decide:
We agree with the agency's classification in about 85 percent of the cases, and
Of the remaining 15 percent, about half are upgraded and about half are downgraded.

A word about grade changes. Although the OPM-certified grade may be higher or lower than the grade assigned by the agency, this does not necessarily mean that the grade of the employee in the position will automatically go up or down. An agency has a number of options available to it when complying with an Office of Personnel Management classification decision.

How long will it take to get a decision from the Office of Personnel Management?
It takes an average of about 125 calendar days for us to issue a decision.

Much of the 125-day period is time OPM must wait for the employee or agency to reply to requests for information. You and your agency can help us shorten this time by responding as quickly as possible to our inquiries.

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