Two groups are urging the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the chief human resources agency for the federal government, to eliminate a proposed rule that could allow Park Service jobs to be cut based on performance issues. The rule specifically applies to government procedures related to a Reduction in Force, a permanent decrease in workforce due to budget constraints, restructuring, or strategic realignment.
The new OPM rule would take into consideration four factors: “tenure of employment, military preference, length of service; and efficiency or performance rating,” according to a May 4 letter from the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks and the National Parks Association.
The rule would lead to assigning individual ranks to employees or categorizing them into groups, according to the letter. “One of our primary concerns is that employee performance ratings would not be based on individual merit and individual performance but on factors like race, color, political affiliation, religion and gender, and preferential treatment,” the groups say.
OPM states it is proposing these changes to improve the efficiency of the RIF process to effect better outcomes with less burden on agencies, and to increase the focus on “merit” in determining retention standards.
“We are deeply concerned that if this RIF authority is allowed, OPM and agencies will read this guidance as giving them complete freedom, absolute authority, and full discretionary power to act as they wish, particularly regarding decision-making related to employees who are not given the performance rating they deserve because of arbitrarily – and legally dubious – assigned quotas,” write the groups.
There is concern that the rule could further enhance the climate of fear that has been plaguing the Park Service in the face of layoffs and changes to performance appraisals. In December 2025, according to information provided by an active Park Service employee to the Traveler, "[S]upervisors were instructed (not in writing of course) to limit the number of staff who are allowed to receive ratings higher than a 3."
Acting National Park Service Director Jessica Bowron denied that any such cap on employee appraisals had been ordered.
However, if Park Service employee performance appraisals are subject to an arbitrary cap, it would threaten to make them subject to an RIF under the proposed OPM rule.
“[I]t is a frightening prospect that career staff could be arbitrarily fired in a RIF if they make decisions that foremost adhere to the NPS mission and the many statutes that guide protection of park resources rather than those that may align with decisions that are inappropriately swayed by political appointees and perspectives that could contradict the NPS mission,” explains the letter.
“[P]erformance should not be considered, especially where performance quotas are being required,” state the groups.
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