Suitability & Fitness (Final)

In June 2026, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a final regulation on suitability actions, which it had proposed in June 2025. The final rule contained minor changes to the text of the proposed regulation. The regulation primarily authorized OPM to terminate federal employees for conduct occurring during their federal employment, without requiring OPM or the employing agencies to follow the normal process for adverse personnel actions laid out by the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA). The CSRA termination process included substantive and procedural protections, as well as a right of appeal to the Merit Systems Protection Board. The regulation significantly altered the suitability process, under which OPM took action against employees only for pre-hiring misconduct upon a finding that they were unsuitable for federal employment. Under the final rule, when an agency identifies employee conduct that appears to warrant an unfavorable suitability determination — such as theft of government resources, failure to comply with financial or civil legal obligations, or violation of nondisclosure obligations — it may refer the matter to OPM, which retains sole jurisdiction to make the final determination and impose the suitability action.