Elimination of Time-in-Grade

What it does

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) proposes eliminating the Time-in-Grade (TIG) restriction on advancement to competitive service positions in the General Schedule. Currently, employees in competitive service General Schedule positions in grades 5 and above must serve 52 weeks in grade before becoming eligible for promotion to the next grade level. Abolishing the restriction would eliminate the 52-week service requirement. If the requirement is eliminated, an employee must continue to meet occupational qualification standard requirements, and any additional job-related qualification requirements.

The Personnel Management Office's summary, as published in the Federal Register.

What it would change

5 parts of Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations:

5 CFR 300, 5 CFR 315, 5 CFR 316, 5 CFR 352, 5 CFR 410

Before this

No earlier Federal Register document under regulation identifier 3206-AP05 since Jan. 1, 2025.

Since then:

• Oct. 19, 2026 Final rule. Elimination of Time-in-Grade

What happens next and when

Comments must be received on or before July 27, 2026.

The agency's dates, word for word.

Check it yourself

• The document in the Federal Register
• Docket OPM-2026-0067 on Regulations.gov
• Title 5 on eCFR

The record as published

Source: the Federal Register (public domain). The document in the Federal Register