Two groups representing current and former federal workers sent a letter Wednesday to senior members of Congress calling on them to defend National Park Service employees whose performance reviews are being revised after initial glowing assessments.
The National Park Service told its park leaders earlier this month that too many staffers had received the highest marks for their job performance. Agency leadership encouraged parks to remedy this by giving the majority of staff a passing grade of 3 marks out of 5. The federal government uses a 1 to 5 rating scale for performance reviews, with 5 being the highest grade.
This move followed Trump administration edicts on reshaping federal performance reviews. Park leaders in recent weeks laid out guidelines on how many staffers should receive the higher level ratings — with one top staffer explaining that only 1 to 5 percent should get the highest grade that indicates employees did “outstanding” work. One superintendent said they were told to go back and redo reviews, while the Yosemite National Park superintendent instructed supervisors to cap reviews at the 3 rating, which indicates workers were “fully successful,” according to POLITICO’s E&E News reporting.
Emily Thompson, the executive director of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, which represents both current and retired national park employees, and Tim Whitehouse, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, asked congressional leaders in a Wednesday letter to intervene.
