OPM Clarifies the No-Clean-Record Executive Order Provision, Part 2

By William Wiley, November 6, 2018

As we discussed last week, one of the Executive Orders (EOs) issued by the White House on MAY 25 effectively did away with an agency’s ability to resolve an employee controversy by entering into a “clean record” settlement agreement. There are several problems with that new limitation. On October 10, OPM issued “Interpretative Guidance” to address one of the problems.

That problem is that the EO left no room for exceptions. When a document was placed in the employee’s personnel record, it could not be removed as part of an agreement with the employee. No exceptions. Well, upon reflection, OPM advises us that there are indeed two exceptions to this iron-clad no-clean-record rule:

Corrective Action Based on Discovery of Agency Error  

Section 5 requirements should not be construed to prevent agencies from taking corrective action should it come to light, including during or after the issuance of an adverse personnel action, that the information contained in a personnel record is not accurate or records an action taken by the agency illegally or in error.

Corrective Action Based on Discovery of Material Information Prior to Final Agency Action

When persuasive evidence comes to light prior to the issuance of a final agency decision on an adverse personnel action casting doubt on the validity of the action or the ability of the agency to sustain the action in litigation, an agency may decide to cancel or vacate the proposed action.

Practitioners on both sides have expressed relief at OPM’s providing exceptions to the EO. You see, every practitioner we’ve spoken with – union or management, attorney or HR specialist – would like to be able to settle cases by agreeing to a clean record. An analogy to the criminal justice system helps us understand the gravity of the EO’s restrictions. Just think what it would be like in the judicial system if charged individuals could not take a plea bargain. These two provisions give at least a little ground for the practitioner to stand when arguing that a document should be removed from the employee’s e-OPF. Besides, these agreements have to be self-reported to OPM annually. There is no oversight to this process. We all learned in elementary school that we get higher grades when we grade our own papers.

At the same time, the EOs’ restriction and OPM’s “clarification” really do not make a lot of practical sense in some ways:

• The EO says that adverse documents may not be removed from the “employee’s official personnel records.” The only record that meets that definition is the employee’s Official Personnel File, aka the e-OPF. That’s the only employee file that travels everywhere with the individual and lasts forever, into retirement and beyond, perhaps into heaven or hell for all we know, amen.
• Agencies sometimes maintain separate Employee Relations files or Discipline files. However, strictly speaking, those are not an employee’s “personnel records” because they stay with the agency. They do not follow the employee as he moves from one agency to another. They are “agency” files, not an employee’s “official personnel record.”
• There are three documents created when an agency fires an employee:
  1. Notice of proposed removal
  2. Decision to remove
  3. SF-50 that effectuates the decision to remove
• Only the third document is routinely placed into the e-OPF. The first two, if retained at all, are retained in files in human resources. Therefore, there is good argument that the EO restricts agencies from removing an SF-50 from the employee’s e-OPF, but does not affect the retention or deletion of the other two documents: the proposal and decision.

OPM’s clarification, however, seems to take a broader view. It talks about prohibiting the removal of documents in a “personnel file,” not just the employee’s official personnel records. Does that mean that the agency is prohibited from deleting the proposal and decision memos even if an SF-50 is never generated (because the employee resigns)? Who knows?

Separately, both the EO and the OPM memo refer to prohibiting an agency from removing these documents in only three situations:

1. In response to an employee complaint,
2. When settling an appeal or grievance initiated by the employee, or
3. Resolving an employee-initiated action.

That leaves open the question: If there is no employee-initiated complaint/grievance/appeal and the employee simply asks that the documents be removed, does the EO prohibit removal in that situation?

Bottom line: The OPM memo gives the agency a reason to remove documents in a certain limited situation which the EO did not. However, this whole thing is still a mess. Agencies are all over the place interpreting what it means. Gee, don’t we wish that there was a tiny little training company who could provide better guidance than what we have so far? Only time will tell if there is. Wiley@FELTG.com