OPM's 30-Day PIP Rule: Removal Becomes the Default

Last Updated: July 19, 2026 Reading Time: 8 min

Buried in the July 2 Federal Register is a proposed rule that would rewrite what a PIP means for every GS employee: the improvement period shrinks to 30 calendar days by default, and when it fails, your agency would be required to propose removal unless a senior official personally signs off on something lighter. Comments close August 3, 2026.

Three Rules, One Confusing Summer

OPM has three separate performance actions moving at once, and most coverage blurs them together. Here is the map:

Rule Status What it does
Ratings rule (finalized July 7 as FR 2026-13715) Final, effective August 6 Ratings distributions, Level 2 elimination. Our appraisal overhaul guide covers it
This rule: FR 2026-13445 (proposed July 2) Proposed, comments due Aug 3 30-day PIP default, removal as default penalty, pre-PIP elimination, Douglas factors replaced
Schedule Policy/Career rule Final since March Strips PIP rights entirely from ~50,000 policy-influencing positions

The February proposal that would have shortened PIPs never made it into the July 7 final. OPM moved the PIP provisions into this new, broader accountability rule instead. If you commented in the spring, that comment does not carry over. This is a new docket.

What the Rule Actually Changes

The 30-day default. The statute (5 U.S.C. § 4303) has always required only 30 days of advance notice before a performance-based action. Agencies built 60-, 90-, and 120-day PIPs on top of that floor by policy and contract. The proposal flips the floor into the default: 30 calendar days, which in practice is about 20 working days to demonstrate acceptable performance on every critical element at issue.

Removal as the default outcome. Proposed § 752.202(e) requires the agency to propose removal after a failed PIP unless a higher-level official affirmatively selects a lesser penalty. Today, a proposing official picks from a range (demotion, reassignment, removal). Under the proposal, mercy requires paperwork; removal doesn't.

The pre-PIP disappears. Many agencies currently give an informal assistance period, a chance to fix things quietly before the formal clock starts. The rule eliminates it.

Douglas factors go. For 45 years, the 12 Douglas factors have forced agencies to justify penalty severity: length of service, past record, consistency with comparable cases. The proposal swaps them for a "totality of the circumstances" standard at proposed 5 CFR 1201.56(b)(3). Your MSPB appeal survives, but the yardstick the judge uses to call a penalty excessive gets much softer. We covered that half of the rule in depth in the Douglas factors elimination guide; this post covers the PIP half. Same rule, same docket, same deadline.

Who Is Covered (and Who Isn't)

Covered under Part 432: permanent competitive-service GS employees past their first year, most permanent excepted-service employees, and prevailing rate (wage grade) employees.

Outside the rule: probationary employees (removable already), SES (separate system), Schedule Policy/Career positions (PIP rights already removed in March), ALJs, Foreign Service, USPS, and VHA's excepted medical workforce.

If you're a GS employee with more than a year of service, this is your rule.

What to Do in the Next 15 Days

1. Comment before August 3. Submit at regulations.gov under docket OPM-2025-0012. Agencies must respond to substantive comments in the final rule, and specific beats generic: if your work has 90-day production cycles, quarterly deliverables, or seasonal surges, explain concretely why 30 calendar days cannot demonstrate sustained performance. Note the overlap: two other rules in this cluster share the window (FEVS decentralization comments are also due August 3).

2. If you're on a PIP today, current rules apply. A proposed rule changes nothing until finalized. Keep doing what a PIP already demands: get every expectation in writing, meet every checkpoint, document every meeting.

3. Build your file now, not later. If the rule is finalized this fall, the margin for error collapses. Your performance file, your ratings history, and your documented accomplishments become your defense. Request your eOPF and check what's actually in it.

4. Know your exit math before you need it. A removal-default regime makes involuntary separation scenarios worth pricing calmly, in advance. The Severance Pay Calculator shows what an involuntary separation actually pays, and the RIF Survival Guide covers the wider job-security playbook.

The Timeline From Here

Comments close August 3. OPM then reviews and publishes a final rule, plausibly late 2026 given the pace of the ratings rule (February proposal to July final). Union litigation is near-certain; AFGE has already called the proposal a betrayal of merit system principles. NARFE and MSPB-watchers flag the Douglas-factor swap as the piece most likely to draw a legal challenge, since Douglas is embedded in four decades of case law.

Watch our lawsuit tracker for challenges once the final drops.

Calculate Your Options

If your agency's performance posture is tightening, run the numbers before decisions get made for you. Use the free Severance Pay Calculator to see what an involuntary separation pays, and the VERA Eligibility Checker to check whether early retirement is on the table.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the 30-day PIP rule final?

No. It is a proposed rule (Federal Register 2026-13445, docket OPM-2025-0012) published July 2, 2026. Comments are open through August 3, 2026. Do not confuse it with the performance appraisal ratings rule, which was finalized separately on July 7.

Does the rule eliminate MSPB appeals?

No. MSPB appeal rights survive. What changes is the review standard: the proposal replaces the 12 Douglas factors with a looser "totality of the circumstances" test, which makes penalties harder to challenge as excessive.

Who is covered by the proposed PIP rule?

Permanent GS competitive and excepted service employees with at least one year of tenure, plus prevailing rate employees. SES, probationers, Schedule Policy/Career employees, ALJs, Foreign Service, USPS, and VHA excepted service are outside Part 432 coverage.

If I am on a PIP right now, does this change anything?

Not yet. Proposed rules have no legal effect until finalized. Your current PIP runs under existing rules, typically 60 to 120 days. If the rule is finalized this fall, new PIPs after the effective date would default to 30 calendar days.

How do I comment on the rule?

Go to regulations.gov, search docket OPM-2025-0012, and submit before August 3, 2026. Specific, experience-based comments about why 30 days is insufficient for a genuine demonstration period carry more weight than form letters.

Sources: Federal Register 2026-13445, Regulations.gov docket OPM-2025-0012, OPM press release, FR 2026-13715 (ratings final rule), 5 CFR 432.102 coverage, NARFE and AFGE statements, July 2026.