Van Hollen Challenges OPM Rules That Would Strip Federal Employees of Independent Appeal Rights

Sen. Van Hollen is leading Senate efforts to block two OPM proposed rules that would transfer jurisdiction over suitability action appeals and RIF appeals from the independent MSPB to internal OPM processes overseen by political appointees. Van Hollen argues this creates a 'clear conflict of interest' where OPM becomes policymaker, enforcer, and final arbiter — violating the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act's intentional separation of policy and adjudication. The rules would affect all federal employees subject to OPM jurisdiction, including IC personnel facing suitability determinations. Combined with a separate OPM final rule stripping 50,000 'policy-influencing' positions of civil service protections, the changes represent the broadest erosion of federal workforce appeal rights in decades.