Updated Guidance on President Trump’s Executive Order Strengthening Probationary Periods in the Federal Service

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued this memorandum as an update to an earlier memorandum it had issued on April 28, 2025. Both the April 28 memorandum and this updated August 7 memorandum provided guidance on Executive Order 14,284 (EO), which established new Civil Service Rule XI to make termination the default outcome of a probationary period absent intervention by an employing agency. Previously, employees ordinarily transitioned into full employment absent performance issues. The new rules require that a high level agency official — “and ideally an official who is either politically appointed and/or is at the Senior Executive Service (SES) or equivalent level” — evaluate whether the probationary employee should keep their job. And the burden is on the employee to prove they should keep their job based on criteria that include the agency’s needs and whether the “employee’s continued employment would advance organizational goals.” The new memorandum supplied an updated Frequently Asked Questions section and various updated templates.