OPM reminds agencies to dig into the rules ahead of the election season

Last week, the Office of Personnel Management reminded agencies that as the campaign season approaches, officials should remain vigilant against attempts to “bury” political appointees in career positions within the federal government’s competitive services and senior management positions.

In a memo to agency leaders, OPM’s deputy director for accountability and merit system compliance Mark Lambert and deputy director for human resources policy and innovation Veronica Hinton addressed the controversial practice, which is legal but subject to strict rules ensuring the qualifications of political appointees to the professional roles to which they are assigned.

“In a presidential election year, we would like to remind agency heads of the need to ensure that all personnel activities remain free from political influence or other impropriety and comply with all applicable civil service laws, rules and regulations,” they wrote. “All official personnel records should clearly document continued compliance with federal merit rules and should be free from any prohibited personnel practices.”

OPM reviews all agency nominations of current or former political appointees to competitive service positions and nonpolitical service positions prior to implementation. Before 2010, the HR agency conducted such reviews only in presidential election years, but bipartisan resistance to the practice of burrowing into Congress led to the change.

Since then, OPM has frequently reiterated that the hiring of political appointees must be based on the principles of the merit system. In 2022, the agency created a checklist of tasks the agency should complete in preparation for submitting an employment proposal for OPM review.

A GAO audit of political appointee burials from 2016 through January 2021 — spanning the end of the Obama administration and the entire Trump administration — found that OPM denied about 20% of burial requests. However, 23% of the conversions – 37 in total – were performed before OPM was asked for permission, contrary to government policy, and 10 of those conversions were ultimately deemed inappropriate, forcing agencies to take steps to address OPM’s concerns.

Attached to the OPM memo is a list of do’s and don’ts that agencies should follow when considering hiring political appointees for more permanent positions.

“OPM strives to ensure that the merit system principle of fair and open competition (in the hiring process) is protected,” the memo reads. “With this in mind, the two most common reasons why OPM does not approve a selection are: the new position appears to have been designed solely for the selected individual; and/or competition has been improperly restricted.”

The HR agency has emphasized posting job openings through USAJOBS when filling vacancies from outside the agency’s existing workforce, consistent with regulations governing hiring from other federal agencies, and working with chief human capital officers and HR directors to ensure that the decision to employment will be consistent with merit system policies and obtain all necessary approvals from internal agencies prior to seeking OPM approval.

OPM, on the other hand, has recommended agencies to avoid during this process.

“Competitive or excepted job positions should not be created or advertised for the sole purpose of selecting a current or former political candidate, Group C employee, or SES member who is not a professional SES member,” the report said. “Do not remove Schedule C or non-career SES elements from a position solely for the purpose of appointing an incumbent to a competitive or exempt position.”