The Trump administration has completed a new regulation to expand public service standards, which could speed the removal of federal employees.
On Monday, the Office of Personnel Management announced that it had finalized its “suitability and fitness” regulation. Under the rule, current government workers engaged in misconduct will deal with the same procedures as job applicants found to be unfit.
Broadening suitability standards to include those on the payroll will bolster agencies’ firing power, a key plank in President Donald Trump’s agenda for the federal workforce.
“For too long, the federal government has had stronger tools to prevent someone with serious misconduct from entering public service than to address the same misconduct once that individual is already employed,” OPM Director Scott Kupor said in a statement.
