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The Office of Personnel Management proposed to modify the regulations for reduction in force (RIF) to streamline the RIF appeals process.

Statement of Need:

The rule seeks to modernize the current RIF appeals process.  The current process has become cumbersome and less efficient than it needs to be.  The changes are needed to streamline this process to improve both the efficiency and consistency of this process. OPM believes this change can be achieved by leveraging its accumulated knowledge and expertise through its unique role as developer, administrator, and end-user of RIF provisions.  This perspective and insight are essential to streamlining the appeals process and the Government’s ability to achieve consistent outcomes in the RIF appeals process. 

Anticipated Costs and Benefits:

OPM predicts considerable savings to the American taxpayer resulting from returning the venue to hear appeals of RIF actions from MSPB to OPM.  In addition to the direct cost savings this proposed rule would generate, OPM expects that the faster adjudication of appeals will result in additional benefits.  Receiving a timely decision on an appeal will provide the individual with a clear determination and provide much-needed certainty, quickly.  Agencies will similarly benefit as the streamlined appeal procedures would reduce the costly and protracted legal process and would help limit backpay and attorney’s fees should an individual be improperly terminated as part of a RIF.  OPM also expects greater consistency with respect to the outcomes of employees’ appeals due to OPM’s unique position as the agency authorized by Congress to promulgate these rules, OPM’s decades-long administration of RIF rules on a governmentwide basis, and OPM’s own experiences as an employing agency that has applied RIF rules numerous times over the decades in its own downsizing actions.