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OPM.gov / Frequently Asked Questions / Performance Management FAQ (Pre-2013) / General Questions
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General Questions

Questions and answers

The law at chapter 43 of title 5, United States Code, clearly intends that through their appraisal systems and programs, agencies will be able to identify and deal with employees whose performance is unacceptable. Permitting agency programs to eliminate the use of the designation Unacceptable would violate the intent of this law. Statute defines unacceptable performance as failure to meet established performance standards in one or more critical elements. Regulation defines a critical element as having such importance that unacceptable performance on a critical element results in a determination that overall performance is unacceptable. Therefore, Level 1 is reserved to designate unacceptable overall performance.
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