The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is correcting a final rule that appeared in the Federal Register on August 3, 2026, and became effective on September 2, 2026. That rule...
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is correcting a final rule that appeared in the
Federal Register
on August 3, 2026, and became effective on September 2, 2026. That rule revised OPM's reduction in force regulations and made related revisions to the Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) regulations. An amendatory instruction in the rule inadvertently resulted in the removal of two paragraphs from the definition of “displaced”. This document restores those paragraphs.
DATES:
Effective September 15, 2026.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Mr. Aaron Gottesman at (202) 606-0960 or by email at
employ@opm.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On August 3, 2026, OPM published a final rule titled “Reduction in Force” at 91 FR 49178 (FR 2026-15665), effective September 2, 2026. Among other things, the final rule revised the definitions of “displaced” and “surplus” in 5 CFR 330.602 to replace references to career and career-conditional (tenure group I or II) employees with references to employees in the competitive service tenure group.
Need for Correction
Amendatory instruction 11 of the final rule, at 91 FR 49217, directed that paragraph (1) of the definition of “displaced” in § 330.602 be revised, and set out only the introductory text of that paragraph as the revised text. OPM intended to revise only the introductory text of paragraph (1), and to leave paragraphs (1)(i) and (1)(ii) of the definition unchanged. As published, however, instruction 11 had the effect of removing paragraphs (1)(i) and (1)(ii), which describe the circumstances under which a competitive service employee is “displaced” for purposes of CTAP: receipt of a reduction in force separation notice under 5 CFR part 351, or receipt of a notice of proposed removal under 5 CFR part 752 for declining a directed geographic relocation outside the local commuting area. Without these paragraphs, the definition is incomplete. This document corrects the error by revising paragraph (1) of the definition of “displaced” in its entirety, restating the introductory text as revised by the final rule and restoring paragraphs (1)(i) and (1)(ii) as they read before the final rule.
The revision of paragraph (1) of the definition of “surplus” in instruction 11 was published as intended and is not affected by this correction.
Administrative Procedure Act
OPM finds that good cause exists under 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B) to issue this correcting amendment without prior notice and opportunity for public comment. This document makes no substantive change to the regulations. It restores regulatory text that was in effect before September 2, 2026, that OPM did not propose to remove, and that the final rule did not discuss removing; notice and comment are therefore unnecessary. For the same reasons, OPM finds good cause under 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3) to make this correction effective upon publication.
The Director of OPM, Scott Kupor, reviewed and approved this document and has authorized the undersigned to electronically sign and submit this document to the Office of the Federal Register for publication.
Office of Personnel Management.
Jerson Matias,
Federal Register Liaison.
Accordingly, 5 CFR part 330 is corrected by making the following correcting amendment:
PART 330—RECRUITMENT, SELECTION, AND PLACEMENT (GENERAL)
1. The authority citation for part 330 continues to read as follows:
(1) A current competitive service employee in the competitive service tenure group at grade GS-15 (or equivalent) or below (or another qualifying competitive service appointment, as determined by OPM) who:
(i) Received a reduction in force (RIF) separation notice under part 351 of this chapter and has not declined an offer under part 351, subpart G, of this chapter of a position with the same type of work schedule and a representative rate at least as high as that of the position from which the employee will be separated; or
(ii) Received a notice of proposed removal under part 752 of this chapter for declining a directed geographic relocation outside of the local
( printed page 58364)
commuting area (
e.g.,
a directed reassignment or change in duty station).
5 CFR 330.602
5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B)