Data / Federal rules / 2026-02375
Improving Performance, Accountability and Responsiveness in the Civil Service
The Personnel Management Office published this final rule in the Federal Register on February 6, 2026. It took effect on March 9, 2026.
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What the agency says
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing a rule to increase career employee accountability. Agency supervisors report great difficulty removing employees for poor performance or misconduct. The final rule authorizes agencies to move policy-influencing positions into Schedule Policy/Career. These positions will remain career jobs filled on a nonpartisan basis. Yet they will be at-will positions excepted from adverse action procedures or appeals. This will allow agencies to quickly remove employees from critical positions who engage in misconduct, perform poorly, or obstruct the democratic process by intentionally subverting Presidential directives. The rule requires agencies to establish internal policies protecting employees from prohibited personnel practices.
Key facts
- Document number
- 2026-02375
- Type
- Final rule
- Action
- Final rule
- Agency
- Personnel Management Office
- Published
- February 6, 2026
- Takes effect
- March 9, 2026
- Dates
- Effective March 9, 2026.
- Docket
- Docket ID: OPM-2025-0004
- Regulation ID (RIN)
- 3206-AO80
- Code of Federal Regulations
- 5 CFR 210; 5 CFR 212; 5 CFR 213; 5 CFR 302; 5 CFR 432; 5 CFR 451; 5 CFR 537; 5 CFR 575; 5 CFR 752
- Topics
- Government employees; Reporting and recordkeeping requirements; Wages
- Significant
- Yes, under Executive Order 12866
- Pages
- 78
Other documents from the Personnel Management Office
| Document | Type | Published |
|---|---|---|
| Administrative Leave for Workforce Realignment and Other Purposes 2026-21320 | Final rule | Oct 19 |
| Elimination of Time-in-Grade 2026-21319 | Final rule | Oct 19 |
| Managing Senior Professional Performance 2026-21316 · significant | Final rule | Oct 19 |
| Family and Medical Leave Act 2026-21104 | Final rule | Oct 15 |
| Employment in the Excepted Service 2026-19222 · significant | Proposed rule | Sep 18 |
| Federal Employees Health Benefits Program: Optimizing FEHB Plan Offerings 2026-18944 | Proposed rule | Sep 15 |
| Promoting Employee Accountability 2026-18943 | Proposed rule | Sep 15 |
| Shared Certificates and Pooled Hiring Actions 2026-18828 · significant | Final rule | Sep 15 |
Everything from the Personnel Management Office · Rules on government employees · Rules on reporting and recordkeeping requirements · Rules on wages · Published in February 2026
Read from the Federal Register API, last updated 2026-10-23. The document on federalregister.gov is the official record; dates and dockets can change through later corrections. Free to reuse with credit to SpecStream under CC BY 4.0.