The "Saving the Civil Service Act" limits the ability to reclassify civil service positions, maintaining competitive service standards and requiring employee consent for certain position changes, subject to oversight by the Office of Personnel Management.
Gerald Connolly
Representative
VA-11
The "Saving the Civil Service Act" limits the ability to reclassify civil service positions, maintaining competitive service standards. It requires OPM approval for certain position changes and sets restrictions on the number of employees that can be moved between service types during a presidential term. Employee consent is mandated for transfers between different service schedules. The Office of Personnel Management is tasked with creating regulations to implement the provisions of this act.
Saving the Civil Service Act: New Limits on Reclassifying Federal Jobs Take Effect
The Saving the Civil Service Act is putting new guardrails on how federal jobs are classified and who gets hired for them. This bill, signed into law, aims to keep the civil service merit-based and limit the potential for political appointees to burrow into career positions.
Keeping it Competitive
This law basically freezes the rules for moving jobs out of the 'competitive service'—meaning jobs open to anyone who qualifies—to what they were on September 30, 2020. It clamps down on agencies trying to shift positions into categories that are easier to fill without a full, competitive hiring process. Think of it like this: you can't just change the rules of the game mid-way to favor certain players. Key changes include:
- Limited Transfers: Agencies can only move a tiny fraction of their workforce (1% or five employees, whichever is more) from the competitive service to the 'excepted service' (which includes Schedule C political appointees) during a four-year presidential term. (SEC. 2.)
- OPM Approval: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has to sign off on any moves into Schedule C, which is typically reserved for policy-making positions. (SEC. 2.)
- Employee Consent: Federal employees must agree in writing before their job can be reclassified from competitive to excepted, or between different types of excepted service schedules. No forced moves. (SEC. 2.)
Real-World Rollout
Imagine you're a park ranger, a job typically in the competitive service. Under this law, your agency can't suddenly decide to make your position a political appointment without your consent and OPM approval, and even then, they're limited by that 1% cap. This protects career civil servants from being replaced based on political whims. Or, if you are applying for a federal IT job, this helps ensure the position is filled through a competitive process that values skill, rather than connections.
For agencies, the main challenge is that it's going to be harder to reclassify jobs. The OPM is tasked with creating regulations to implement these changes (SEC. 2), so expect some detailed rules to follow. The law does broadly define what an 'agency' is, covering any federal department, agency, or instrumentality. (SEC. 2.)
The Big Picture
This law is all about preserving the idea of a non-partisan civil service. It reinforces the existing framework (referencing titles in the U.S. Code related to government organization and employees) to prevent a large-scale shift of career positions into political appointments. By requiring OPM oversight and employee consent, the law aims to maintain a system where federal employees are hired and promoted based on merit, not political connections. The 1% limit on transfers between competitive and excepted service is a significant check on agency power.