-
Agencies must request OPM approval
to appoint the following current or former (within five-years) Executive Branch
political appointees to permanent competitive service, non-political excepted
service, or career SES positions:
- Political
appointees requiring Senate confirmation (PAS);
- Political
appointees not requiring Senate confirmation (PA);
- Political
appointees, as defined under 5 U.S.C. sections 5312 through 5316 (relating
to the Executive Schedule);
- Political
Schedule A;
- Appointments
made by the President without confirmation by the Senate [5 CFR §
213.3102(c)].
- Assistants
to top-level Federal officials if the position is being filled by a
person designated by the President as a White House Fellow [5 CFR §
213.3102(z)].
- Schedule
C [5 CFR §§ 213.3301-3302];
- Noncareer
SES [5 U.S.C. § 3132(a)(7); and 5 CFR § 317, subpart F];
- Limited
Term SES [5 U.S.C. § 3132(a)(5); and 5 CFR § 317, subpart F];
- Limited
Emergency SES [5 U.S.C. § 3132(a)(6); and 5 CFR § 317, subpart F];
- Appointees
serving in a political capacity under agency-specific authority; and
- Provisional
Political Appointments [applicable to positions listed above].
Thank you for your feedback!
An error occurred while trying to submit your feedback.
Please try again later.
-
To
comply with the reporting requirements of the Transitions Act, the updated
policy communicates a change to OPM’s previous policy, which excluded certain
permanent appointments from OPM’s pre-appointment review process. The updated policy communicates that moving
forward, OPM will review proposed selections of current or former political
appointees to permanent positions involving noncompetitive and direct-hire
appointments, under 5 CFR 315, subpart F, and 5 CFR 337, subpart B.
Thank you for your feedback!
An error occurred while trying to submit your feedback.
Please try again later.
-
Yes. To comply with the reporting requirements of
the Transitions Act, OPM will now review non-competitive appointments to the
Federal civil service under certain conditions (e.g. the appointment of 30 percent
or more disabled veterans, the appointment of Peace Corps personnel, and the
appointment of certain former overseas employees). This action is a change from OPM’s previous
policy.
Thank you for your feedback!
An error occurred while trying to submit your feedback.
Please try again later.
-
OPM’s objective is to safeguard fair
and open competition and protect against political influence in the hiring for
career Federal jobs. With this in mind, the two most common reasons for OPM not
to approve a proposed selection are (1) when the career job appears to have
been created or tailored solely for the
benefit of the current or former political appointee or, (2) when competition
for the career job has been limited inappropriately.
Thank you for your feedback!
An error occurred while trying to submit your feedback.
Please try again later.
-
We
determine this period by looking back five years from the closing date of the
vacancy announcement. If an applicant
for a career Federal job held a political appointment covered by OPM’s policy
during that five-year period, OPM will review the proposed selection to ensure
it meets merit system principles. We
recognize that vacancy announcements are not always used for excepted service
positions. In such cases, the five-year
period will be determined by looking back five years from the date an agency
submits its request for pre-hiring review to OPM.
Thank you for your feedback!
An error occurred while trying to submit your feedback.
Please try again later.
-
OPM will complete its review and notify the
agency of our decision within 15 business days from the date we receive all of
the information needed from the agency.
Thank you for your feedback!
An error occurred while trying to submit your feedback.
Please try again later.
-
No.
It has been OPM policy since the Carter Administration and under every
President since to ensure that politics play no role when agencies hire
political appointees for career Federal jobs.
In the past, OPM conducted a pre-hiring review of proposed appointments
to the career competitive service during the year leading up to a Presidential
election.
Effective January 1, 2010, OPM
expanded its pre-hiring oversight beyond the Presidential election year to
ensure hiring of current or former political appointees—whenever it occurs—is fair, open, and free from political
influence. The OPM Director’s January 1,
2010, memorandum for Heads of Departments and Agencies communicated two changes
in OPM’s policy. First, as noted above,
OPM now conducts pre-hiring reviews on a continuing basis, not just during the
year leading up to a Presidential election.
Second, we expanded the scope of our review for future hiring decisions. In the past, OPM only reviewed an agency’s
proposed hiring of a current or former political appointee when the career
Federal job was in the competitive service or career SES. Under our revised policy, OPM reviews
proposed hiring of current or former political appointees for jobs in the
excepted service as well. OPM's
responsibility to ensure merit-based hiring for Federal jobs includes both the
excepted and competitive service.
Thank you for your feedback!
An error occurred while trying to submit your feedback.
Please try again later.
-
It
depends. OPM will not conduct a
pre-hiring review if an agency wants to non-competitively select a current or
former political appointee for reinstatement to a Federal job at the same or
lower grade than previously held.
However, OPM will review the proposed selection of a current or former
political appointee who is competing for a career Federal job at a higher grade
or with greater promotion potential than the career job previously held.
Thank you for your feedback!
An error occurred while trying to submit your feedback.
Please try again later.
-
Consistent
with past OPM policy, our review looks back five years to ensure we safeguard
merit principles in consecutive administrations.
Thank you for your feedback!
An error occurred while trying to submit your feedback.
Please try again later.
-
The policy communicated requirements
of the Edward “Ted” Kaufman and Michael Leavitt Presidential Transitions
Improvements Act of 2015 (Pub. L. 114-136, March 18, 2016).
The “Act” expands the definition of
“political appointee” and requires OPM to report on data pertaining to agency
requests to appoint current or former political appointees to covered civil
service positions. OPM now requires
agencies to provide information on hiring effective dates and basic rate of
pay, or notification that the selectee was not appointed (refer to the Agency
Pre-Appointment Checklist, Form OPM 5000 and OPM 5001). This requirement remains in effect.
Thank you for your feedback!
An error occurred while trying to submit your feedback.
Please try again later.