Trump Administration Proposes Major Overhaul of Federal Employee Discipline Rules
The Trump administration proposed sweeping changes to the federal employee disciplinary process, including retiring the decades-old Douglas factors, the 12 criteria agencies use to determine disciplinary penalties.
It’s all part of the administration’s push to boost accountability in a proposed rule issued jointly by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB).
“Simply put, we have made the disciplinary and removal process too complicated and inefficient such that it’s easier for managers to ignore under-performance than to address,” said OPM Director Scott Kupor in a blog post about the rule proposal.
End of the Douglas Factors?
OPM and MSPB called for retiring the Douglas factors, a set of 12 criteria that agencies employ when considering disciplinary action, including the severity of the offense, past performance, and potential for rehabilitation. The factors grew out of a 1981 case and have been in place for decades.
However, OPM and MSPB argue the factors have become overly rigid and discourage managers from pursuing disciplinary actions.
“The review of these factors is often very mechanical and can create “foot-fault” decisions against the manager for failing to properly document each of them in sufficient detail,” wrote Director Kupor.
Instead, agencies would consider the "totality of the circumstances" when determining an appropriate penalty.
The proposal drew criticism from former MSPB Commissioner Raymond Limon, a Democrat-appointed member who left office in 2025. He said it doesn’t jibe with his experience, where agencies have a more than 80 percent success rate before the board.
“I feel like the proposed regulation assumes that Douglas is the disease, but it may simply be the stethoscope,” said Limon.
Timelines Tightened
Among the other changes in the rule is a tightening of timelines for disciplinary action.
The rule would do the following:
Limit performance improvement plans to the minimum 30 days, with employees needing to show at least “fully successful” performance by the end of the period to avoid disciplinary action.
Cut times to ten days for employees to respond to a disciplinary action and 30 days for agencies to carry out final action after issuing a notice.
Set removal as the default penalty for unacceptable performance, with agencies retaining discretion to impose a lesser penalty.
Barring agencies from removing details from employees’ records as part of a settlement agreement.
Generally barring employees with union roles such as stewards from representing employees of the same agency in disciplinary proceedings, or from using official time for that purpose.
Joint Rule Raises Concern
Former commissioner Limon also expressed concern that the rule was offered jointly by OPM and MSPB, saying it undermines a key part of the Civil Service Reform Act.
“The MSPB was designed by Congress to be an oversight body over OPM and that also to be an independent institution,” said Limon. “That’s why the Civil Service Reform Act was created: to split up the Civil Service Commission. The policy wing became OPM, and MSPB would do the commission’s adjudication work. Good fences make good neighbors, but they’re collapsing that.”
Comments must be received on or before August 3, 2026.
