OPM Seizes Control Over Federal Layoff Appeals, Pushes Agencies Toward Tech Hiring

The Office of Personnel Management has finalized a sweeping set of rules that hands the agency direct control over how federal employees appeal layoffs, firings, and other adverse personnel actions — stripping that authority from the independent Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) in the process.

Across four regulations published in the Federal Register, OPM will now adjudicate appeals involving reductions-in-force (RIFs), employee suitability determinations, and probationar period actions through its own Merit System Accountability and Compliance (MSAC) office, with final review resting with the OPM director. Notably, employees will no longer be able to appeal those final agency decisions in federal court. A separate rule elevates the weight given to performance ratings in determining who survives a RIF, while reducing the traditional influence of seniority and veterans' preference. All four rules take effect September 2, 2026.

OPM Director Scott Kupor defended the shift by pointing to MSPB's severe backlog, writing in a blog post that cases have taken "many months and, in some cases, years" to resolve, and arguing OPM's new internal process would be "faster, more efficient, and, critically, structurally independent." But the plan drew overwhelming public pushback: according to the final rule itself, 99% of public commenters opposed the change. Critics, including Jenny Mattingley of the Partnership for Public Service, questioned whether OPM — which has lost more than a third of its own staff — has the capacity or independence to replace an entire adjudicatory board complete with administrative judges and oversight structures. OPM's own notice acknowledged that RIFs accounted for only about 7% of the roughly 300,000 federal employees who left government service in 2025, with retirements, buyouts, and deferred resignation offers making up the rest.

The overhaul is paired with a forward-looking staffing directive: guidance issued July 30 instructs agencies to prioritize hiring outside the Washington, D.C. metro area and reserve dedicated budget and positions specifically for technology talent in their fiscal 2027 staffing plans, part of Executive Order 14356's push for "bottom-up workforce planning" starting at the component and bureau level.

Together, the moves mark one of the most significant structural changes to federal employment protections in decades — consolidating both hiring priorities and appeal authority more tightly under the Trump administration's direct control, even as the agency responsible for managing it operates with a fraction of its former workforce.