Politico recently quoted Senior Counsel Katherine Lease in an article about proposed changes to federal employee performance assessments. The article, titled “Trump admin advances performance rating changes for feds,” reports on the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM’s) forthcoming proposed rules. The proposed changes include a forced distribution of ratings, so that agencies can only give a certain number of outstanding ratings, elimination of the “minimally satisfactory” rating for agencies that currently use a five-level rating structure, and a prohibition against filing union grievances to challenge performance ratings. In short, the changes will make it easier for federal agencies to give negative ratings and to remove employees for alleged unsatisfactory performance. Reporter Kevin Bogardus included the following quote from Katherine:
“The goal of the regulation is to create a bell curve,” said Katherine Lease, senior counsel at law firm Alan Lescht & Associates. “I imagine this will certainly increase the number of performance plans and removals that we see.”
Can an attorney help me challenge a bad performance review?
An experienced employment attorney can help you respond to a negative performance review and determine if the performance review process or the rating itself violates any federal rules or laws. Alan Lescht and Associates can help. We represent federal government workers around the world in connection with performance reviews, performance improvement plans, and removals for unsatisfactory performance. Contact us today.
