Withdrawal of Administrative Law Judges Proposed Rule

Regs.gov: Office of Personnel Management

Published April 2nd, 2026

Detected April 3rd, 2026

Summary

OPM has withdrawn its 2020 proposed rule (85 FR 59207) that would have revised regulations governing the appointment and employment of administrative law judges. The withdrawal is effective April 2, 2026. OPM cited that the public comments received are over five years old and that agencies have already implemented Executive Order 13843 as reasons for the withdrawal.

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What changed

OPM is formally withdrawing the September 21, 2020 notice of proposed rulemaking titled 'Administrative Law Judges' that would have revised OPM's regulations for appointing and employing ALJs, implementing Executive Order 13843 and updating rules for Schedule E of the excepted service. The agency received approximately 41 comments during the 60-day comment period ending November 20, 2020. The docket for this withdrawn rule is OPM-2025-0274.

Affected parties should note that no immediate action is required as a result of this withdrawal. OPM indicated it will propose regulatory changes to implement Schedule E as part of a separate future rulemaking (RIN 3206-AO92) that will overhaul excepted service regulations. Government agencies employing administrative law judges should monitor for upcoming rulemaking activity but do not need to take action on this specific withdrawal.

Source document (simplified)

Content

ACTION:

Withdrawal of proposed rule.

SUMMARY:

The Office of Personnel Management is clarifying its withdrawal of a proposed rule published on September 21, 2020. The notice
of proposed rulemaking, among other things, proposed revising OPM's regulations governing the appointment and employment of
administrative law judges (ALJs). OPM is withdrawing the proposed rule.

DATES:

OPM withdraws the proposed rule as of April 2, 2026.

ADDRESSES:

The docket for this withdrawn rule is available at https://www.regulations.gov/docket/OPM-2025-0274.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Michael J. Mahoney (202) 936-3265 or email: employ@opm.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

On September 21, 2020, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM or proposed
rule) titled “Administrative Law Judges” in the
Federal Register
. See 85 FR 59207. The NPRM proposed to revise OPM's regulations governing the appointment and employment of administrative law
judges (ALJs). The proposed rule would have implemented Executive Order (E.O.) 13843 titled “Excepting Administrative Law
Judges from the Competitive Service.” It would have updated the rules for ALJ hiring in light of the 2018 creation of schedule
E of the excepted service for ALJs and updated the existing ALJ employment regulations to reflect other changes in the law.

In response to the NPRM, OPM received approximately 41 comments during the 60-day comment period which ended on November 20,
2020.

OPM is withdrawing this proposal as the comments are over five years old, and agencies have implemented E.O. 13843. OPM plans
to propose regulatory changes to implement Schedule E as part of another rulemaking later this year that will overhaul the
excepted service regulations to reflect a variety of legal changes. See RIN 3206-AO92.

OPM hereby withdraws the NPRM.

Signing Statement

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. [FR Doc. 2026-06445 Filed 4-1-26; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6325-39-P