On April 3, 2025, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a new guidance memorandum directing changes to performance standards for Senior Level (SL) and Scientific or Professional (ST) employees.  These proposed changes also include proposals that will change performance evaluations standards for regular federal employees as well. 

OPM had previously announced its intent to revise performance standards for SL and ST position performance standards in its February 25, 2025 guidance memorandum implementing performance evaluation changes for Senior Executive Service (SES) employees, as previously analyzed in this blog.  OPM indicated that SL and ST performance standards were being updated consistent with two executive orders, one solely discussing SES employees (as previously analyzed in this blog), and the other resurrecting the former “Schedule F” (also previously analyzed in this blog); neither executive order expressly referenced SL or ST employees. 

OPM indicated that the new performance plans and standards were designed to “mirror” the new SES standards.  SL and ST employees will now be rated on how much they have “advanced the President’s policy priorities,” requiring that SL and ST employees “must clearly and demonstrably support implementation of the President’s policy priorities through specific results that align with and advance the President’s specific policy agenda” (a critical element constituting 25% of the employee’s overall rating).    The draft performance evaluation form characterizes this as “the most critical element for reviewing the job performance of someone who serves under the elected President.”  In a possible typographical error, this form appears inconsistent with the rating percentages in the new performance appraisal policy, which rate a different critical element (critical element 4, “Partnership/Leadership/Mentorship”) at 30% of the overall rating (the form only gives 15% to critical element 4, and the percentages for all critical elements on the form only add up to 85%).  The new system replaced a more flexible system for tailoring performance standards which, as noted in the OPM Senior-Level and Scientific and Professional Desk Guide, had been in place since 2016.  

OPM also indicated that—similar to its updated SES performance standards—a 30% cap would be imposed on SL and ST employees receiving “4” or “5” ratings absent Presidential waiver, if their employing agency has 4 or more such employees.  Under present regulations, such a “forced distribution of summary levels” is prohibited.  See 5 C.F.R. § 432.208(c).  To effect the new SL and ST performance standards, OPM is proposing to initiate rulemaking proceedings to revise Section 432.208(c) to eliminate the restriction on forced distributions.  However, 5 C.F.R. § 432.208(c) does not just apply to SL and ST employees—instead, it is a regulation that also covers most General Schedule employees, although there are some exceptions.  See 5 C.F.R. § 430.202.  Accordingly, unless OPM in its rulemaking restricts the effect of the modification to just SL or ST employees, the change would then apply to most executive branch employees.  OPM proposed to informally implement the 30% cap even before the rulemaking occurred, stating that “[u]ntil that rulemaking is completed, agencies should treat the 30% cap on Levels 4 and 5 as general guidance […] and not a hard and fast rule or requirement.”  SL and ST employees will be placed on a quarterly interim performance evaluation cycle (as opposed to the historic standard of midyear and final evaluations).  

OPM stated that “Only [SL and ST employees] rated Level 4 or Level 5 should receive a performance award or performance-based pay adjustment exceeding 5% of their rate of basic pay. A[n SL or ST employee] rated Level 3 should not receive a performance award that exceeds 5% of their rate of basic pay.”  Employees receiving a Level 1 or a Level 2 rating are to receive no performance-based pay increase.  The new performance plan specifies that decisions SL and ST employees’ annual pay increases under 5 C.F.R. § 534.507 will now be decided by the same Performance Review Boards (PRBs) at an agency that review SES pay, the staffing for which was replaced pursuant to a January 2025 executive order, as previously discussed in this blog.  SL and ST performance ratings also may not be finalized until input from the PRB is considered by the rater. 

Following general Chapter 43 rules, SL and ST employees whose performance becomes unacceptable (i.e. performance at the Level 1 rating level) are to be placed on a 30 day Performance Improvement Plan and/or subjected to immediate performance-based discipline under Chapter 43, or else subjected to Chapter 75 discipline based on performance (which such actions not limited to just poor performance on the formal critical elements of the employee’s performance plan).  

OPM more generally asserted in the draft performance plan that the plan supersedes not only the OPM Senior-Level and Scientific and Professional Desk Guide, but also any contrary provisions of 5 C.F.R. Part 430 Subparts A-B, despite no rulemaking having yet occurred as of the date of the present guidance memorandum. 

Even before implementing the new performance evaluation plans, agencies were to immediately revise the presently-operative SL and ST performance plans to remove any DEI-related performance standards, to be completed no later than April 11, 2025. 

OPM set the deadline for full implementation of these new performance standards as October 31, 2025.  For those agencies whose performance evaluation cycles did not track the federal fiscal year, OPM directed them to extend the present performance year to September 30, 2025, which would have the effect of forcing agencies to synchronize their SL and ST performance evaluation cycles to the federal fiscal year. 

If you are an SL or ST employee and wish to seek advice regarding your rights based on OPM’s new guidance memorandum, consider contacting Gilbert Employment Law, P.C. to request an initial consultation.