The Trump administration has proposed a pair of rules to cap performance ratings for much of the career civil service as part of its campaign to dramatically reshape the federal government.
On Tuesday, the Office of Personnel Management published regulations in the Federal Register that would remove the ban on the “forced distribution” of performance ratings for Senior Level and Scientific/Professional employees as well as workers under the General Schedule. The latter covers most of the 2 million-strong federal workforce.
Removing that prohibition would result in agencies tagging more government workers as poor performers. Critics warn that then could lead to employees being placed on performance improvement plans and terminated from public service.
OPM, however, claims performance ratings have been subject to grade inflation, noting in one of its rules, almost half of all federal employees received “the highest possible evaluation” in fiscal 2024.
