Office of Special Counsel Opinion on Merit Hiring Plan

The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) issued this advisory opinion to declare that the Merit Hiring Plan issued by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) did not amount to a prohibited personnel practice. OSC is a free-standing agency, which has historically been independent because its leader could only be fired for cause. However, President Trump removed the office's leader early in 2025, and installed an acting special counsel who was an official in the Executive Office of the President, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Among other things, OSC investigates prohibited personnel practices barred under 5 U.S.C. § 2302, such as whistleblower retaliation, political affiliation discrimination, violations of laws implementing the merit system principles and other practices in the federal executive branch. OSC has the power to file a complaint with the Merit Systems Protection Board seeking penalties against executive branch officials other than the president, the vice president, and certain Senate-confirmed presidential appointees for committing prohibited personnel practices. OPM's Merit Hiring Plan raised concerns for a number of reasons, such as its inclusion of what appeared to be an essay question in job applications designed to assess political views, and an outside group had asked OSC to comment on whether the plan was legal. OSC, under Greer's leadership, issued its opinion supporting OPM's plan.