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Washington, D.C.—As the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) had called for, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) today abandoned a proposal of the previous administration to eliminate the time-in-grade rule and to substitute an unacceptable degree of management subjectivity to this critical area.

In its waning days, the last administration sought to eliminate the time-in-grade rule under which employees in competitive service General Schedule positions at grades 5 and above must serve 52 weeks in a grade before becoming eligible for promotion to the next grade level. Instead, employees would be promoted whenever it was determined—under a subjective standard—that they met the “qualifications” for the position.

“I welcome the OPM decision and its position that reviewing federal workplace matters—including the critical need for adequate staffing—is not best done on a piecemeal basis,” said President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU).

“This development,” she added, “is consistent with NTEU’s view that any systemic change to civil service rules must be undertaken in a more measured fashion, in consultation with unions and other stakeholders.”

NTEU maintains that agencies already have the ability to reward employees within the General Schedule pay system. For example, under it, employees are eligible to receive Quality Step Increases for superior performance. NTEU is the leader in seeking to expand this key program.

President Kelley was an immediate and vocal critic of the proposed elimination of the time-in-grade rule. It filed comments objecting to the proposed change, and when OPM indicated that it was nevertheless going ahead, worked successfully to delay the proposed implementation date, and then to obtain reversal of OPM’s precipitous action.

In its letters to OPM, NTEU warned of “the very real danger of disparate treatment, should managers be able to base promotions solely on their subjective assessment of employee skills and experience.”

The time-in-grade rule provided an objective measure of employee readiness for promotion. Without that, Kelley pointed out, “the merit system is vulnerable to manipulation and abuse: Many managers are not well-trained, and pay or promotion schemes instituted without training, objective criteria and adequate oversight can lead—and have led—to favoritism, nepotism and actual illegal discrimination, as well as the widespread perception of discriminatory implementation.”

She added: “Fairness and objectivity are the cornerstones giving credibility to the civil service. We need to move very carefully to ensure that we do not undermine these critical principles.”

As the largest independent federal union, NTEU represents 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.