Descended from the Civil Service Commission of the 1883 Pendleton Act, the original answer to the spoils system. It runs USAJOBS, administers retirement and health benefits for millions of current and former employees, and writes the rules that define merit hiring.
Open the interactive page for OPM →Created byCivil Service Reform Act of 1978, P.L. 95-454, implementing Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1978 (split the old Civil Service Commission into OPM and MSPB)
Head appointed5 U.S.C. § 1102(a): Director appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a 4-year term (PAS)
Removal standardno statutory protection — at will (the 4-year term in 5 U.S.C. § 1102(a) carries no removal restriction)
Funded underannual Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act (salaries and expenses), plus a revolving fund for reimbursable services (5 U.S.C. § 1304(e)) and administration of the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund and FEHB trust funds (5 U.S.C. §§ 8348, 8909)
Congressional oversightHouse Oversight and Government Reform · Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Inspector generalown OPM OIG — PAS IG under the IG Act (5 U.S.C. § 403(a))
Judicial reviewPersonnel actions channel through the CSRA, not the APA: appeals to the MSPB with judicial review in the Federal Circuit (5 U.S.C. § 7703; United States v. Fausto channeling); OPM rules and retirement/FEHB determinations otherwise reviewable under APA/MSPB routes
Comment on civil-service rules, including those that reclassify federal jobs; vote for President, who sets federal personnel policy.