Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP) Rescission

Current understanding

OPM is issuing an interim final rule to strike all references to the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP) from federal civil service regulations. The action conforms OPM’s rules to a June 9, 2026 DOJ Office of Legal Counsel opinion concluding that UGESP — the long-standing multi-agency framework (EEOC/DOL/DOJ/OPM) used to assess adverse impact in hiring, testing, and promotion decisions — is unlawful. Status: interim final rule; for federal employers, removes UGESP-based selection-procedure obligations from OPM regulations, and for federal workers, alters the framework governing validation and adverse-impact analysis of selection tools.

Evidence log

• 2026-08-21 — Rescission of Executive Order 11246 Implementing Regulations: cross-connection with eo-11246-federal-contractor-affirmative-action: Rescinding EO 11246 implementing regulations complements the UGESP rescission, together dismantling core federal selection-procedure and affirmative-action compliance infrastructure. (novelty: 4)
• 2026-07-31 — Removal of References to the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures in Federal Personnel Regulations: cross-connection with dol-title-vi-disparate-impact: Both actions dismantle federal disparate-impact/adverse-impact enforcement architecture: OPM’s UGESP removal eliminates the selection-procedure validation framework, while DOL’s Title VI rulemaking narrows disparate-impact liability. (novelty: 3)

Open questions

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