OPM Performance Improvement Plan: Rules, Timeline, and Appeals

An OPM Performance Improvement Plan is the formal written process a federal agency uses when an employee’s work has fallen below acceptable standards on at least one critical element of the job. It gives the employee a defined period — now generally 30 business days — to bring performance up to par, spells out exactly what “acceptable” looks like, commits the agency to specific support, and warns that continued unacceptable performance can lead to demotion, reassignment, or removal.¹ OPM also calls this an “opportunity period” or “opportunity to demonstrate acceptable performance.”²

When an Agency Can Put You on a PIP

Every federal employee under a performance appraisal system has a performance plan listing “critical elements” — the core duties of the job, stated in measurable terms such as quality, quantity, and timeliness.³ Unacceptable performance on even one of those elements is what opens the door to a PIP.

Since 2021, the agency has to do more than just point to problems it noticed once the PIP started. In Santos v. NASA, 990 F.3d 1355 (Fed. Cir. 2021), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held that an agency must be able to prove the employee’s performance was already unacceptable before the PIP was issued; the PIP itself cannot serve as the sole evidence of a deficiency.⁴ The decision overturned decades of Merit Systems Protection Board precedent, and MSPB judges have since begun holding agencies to that higher standard.⁵ Practically, that means the pre-PIP record matters, and an employee facing a PIP should look at what the agency documented in the weeks and months before the notice arrived.

What the PIP Notice Has to Say

Under 5 CFR Part 432, the written PIP notice must cover several specific things:¹

The critical elements at issue and how the employee’s work is falling short of them.
Concrete examples of the deficient work.
Measurable success criteria — for example, “reduce report errors by 50% over the next 30 days.”⁶
How long the opportunity period will last.
The specific assistance the agency will provide, such as training, mentoring, closer supervision, or pairing with another employee.
A plain statement that continued unacceptable performance may result in demotion, reassignment, or removal.

Standards inside a PIP have to be clear enough for the employee to know exactly what success looks like. If the standards are vague, unmeasurable, or unrelated to the actual job duties, any later adverse action is at risk of being overturned.⁷

How Long a PIP Lasts

PIP lengths used to vary widely across the government, sometimes running 90 or 120 days. On June 17, 2025, Acting OPM Director Charles Ezell issued a government-wide memorandum directing agencies to limit PIPs to 30 business days.⁸ Agencies must also report quarterly to OPM on the PIPs they issue, how long the periods run, and any adverse actions that follow.⁹

Whether 30 business days is enough time to demonstrate real improvement in complex federal work is contested. A former HR official quoted in Government Executive called the shortened PIP more of a “procedural widget to sustain a termination” than a genuine improvement tool.¹⁰ Supporters point out that the statute has never required a specific number of days, only a “reasonable opportunity,” and that 30-day PIPs have a long track record of surviving legal challenge.

What Should Happen During the PIP

Once the PIP is running, the supervisor is supposed to provide regular feedback, coaching, and every form of support the notice promised. OPM recommends weekly or biweekly check-ins to review progress, work through problems, and adjust as needed.⁶ Feedback should draw on observable facts and data rather than impressions, and supervisors are encouraged to acknowledge improvement even when it is partial.

Documentation runs alongside all of this. Supervisors are expected to record every meeting, every assignment, every piece of feedback, and every instance of continued deficiency, because sloppy records can sink the agency’s case if the matter later becomes an adverse action.¹¹

Promised support matters for the employee’s side too. If the PIP commits the agency to specific help — training sessions, a mentor pairing, closer supervision — and the agency fails to follow through, that broken commitment can weaken the agency’s position in a later appeal.⁷ Keep your own record of what was promised and whether it happened.

What Happens When the PIP Ends

Three outcomes are possible at the end of the period:¹

Successful completion. The employee met the standards, the PIP is closed, and normal performance review resumes.
Marginal or incomplete improvement. The supervisor has discretion to extend the PIP.
Unsuccessful completion. Performance remains unacceptable, and the agency may pursue reassignment, demotion, or removal.

Passing the PIP does not fully close the file for a year. If the employee slips back to unacceptable performance on the same critical element within one year of the PIP’s start date, the agency can propose demotion or removal without issuing a new PIP.¹² But if performance stays acceptable for one full year from the date of the original advance notice, the agency is required under 5 U.S.C. § 4303(d) to remove any record of the unacceptable performance from agency files.¹³

Chapter 43 vs. Chapter 75: Why the Path the Agency Chooses Matters

Performance-based adverse actions can move down two different statutory tracks, and the choice reshapes what the agency has to prove and what the employee can win on appeal. Agencies must declare up front which chapter they are using and generally cannot switch later.¹⁴

Chapter 43 (5 U.S.C. § 4303)

Chapter 43 is the performance-specific statute. The agency can demote or remove an employee for unacceptable performance on a critical element, but only after providing the formal PIP. The burden of proof is “substantial evidence” — enough that a reasonable person could accept it as adequate, even if others might disagree.¹⁴ The agency must give at least 30 days’ advance written notice of the proposed action and issue a written decision within 30 days after the notice period ends.¹³ Suspensions are not available under Chapter 43; only demotions and removals are. And if the agency proves its case, the MSPB cannot reduce the penalty.¹⁵

Chapter 75 (5 U.S.C. § 7513)

Chapter 75 covers adverse actions for the “efficiency of the service,” a broader category that can include poor performance but is not limited to it. A PIP is not legally required under Chapter 75, and the agency must meet the higher “preponderance of the evidence” standard: its version of events must be more likely true than not. In exchange, the agency can suspend as well as demote or remove, and the MSPB can reduce a penalty if the agency failed to weigh the factors set out in Douglas v. Veterans Administration (1981), including tenure, disciplinary record, and the seriousness of the offense.¹⁴

The June 2025 OPM memo encouraged agencies to use Chapter 75 more often, particularly after collective bargaining agreements that effectively required PIPs for all performance-based separations were terminated at agencies excluded from the federal labor-management program.¹⁶ For an employee facing an adverse action, the practical takeaway is to check the proposal notice for the statutory basis: it tells you which standard of proof applies, whether a PIP was required, and whether the MSPB has authority to soften the penalty.

Your Rights and How to Appeal

An employee facing demotion or removal keeps significant procedural protections. The written notice must identify the specific instances of unacceptable performance being relied on. Under Chapter 43, that notice must come at least 30 days before the action takes effect and can rely only on performance issues from within the preceding one year.¹³

You have the right to respond orally and in writing, the right to representation by an attorney or other representative, and the right to a decision from an official senior to the one who proposed the action.¹³ Missing any of these basic protections — notice, an explanation of the evidence, an opportunity to respond — violates minimum due process, and the MSPB will reverse the action, as it held in Greene v. Department of Health and Human Services.¹⁴

If you are demoted or removed, you can appeal to the MSPB, generally within 30 calendar days of the effective date. An administrative judge reviews the agency’s evidence, and you can raise affirmative defenses, such as harmful procedural error or a prohibited personnel practice like retaliation or discrimination. Either party can petition the full Board to review the initial decision, and final Board orders can be appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit within 60 days.¹⁷

Who Doesn’t Get PIP Protections

Not every federal employee is covered by the PIP framework. An executive order signed on June 3, 2026, moved roughly 8,000 career positions — about 97% of them at or above the GS-15 level — into a new excepted-service category called Schedule Policy/Career.¹⁸ These employees are considered at-will and are explicitly excluded from both the Chapter 43 PIP requirements and Chapter 75 adverse action procedures.¹⁹ They can be separated on a written notice identifying unacceptable performance or misconduct, without a formal improvement period, and they cannot appeal to the MSPB. A lawsuit challenging the category argues it violates due process, exceeds presidential authority, and contradicts federal statute. If you are in a Schedule Policy/Career position, none of the PIP protections described above apply to you.

1
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Performance Improvement Plan – A Supervisor’s Quick Guide
2
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Performance-Based Actions Toolkit
3
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Performance Management and Accountability Playbook
4
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Santos v. NASA, No. 2019-2345
5
Government Executive. Landmark Ruling – Court Raises Threshold for Firing Feds
6
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Addressing and Resolving Poor Performance Quick Guide
7
Merit Systems Protection Board. Addressing Poor Performers and the Law
8
Federal News Network. OPM Seeks Fewer Top Performance Ratings, Quicker Discipline for Poor Performers
9
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Performance Management for Federal Employees Memo
10
Government Executive. OPM Calls for Quicker Firings, More Stringent Performance Standards
11
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Performance-Based Actions Toolkit
12
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. The Performance Improvement Period
13
Federal Labor Relations Authority. 5 U.S.C. § 4303
14
Merit Systems Protection Board. Performance-Based Actions
15
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Taking Performance-Based Actions Under 5 USC Chapters 43 and 75
16
U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Guidance on Executive Order Exclusions From Federal Labor-Management Programs
17
Merit Systems Protection Board. Appeals
18
Federal News Network. Trump Moves About 8,000 Federal Positions to Schedule Policy/Career
19
Federal Register. Schedule Policy/Career Final Rule