HHS finalizes rule that imposes term limits for career federal scientists

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a final rule that institutes term limits top career government scientists.

The agency’s final rule issued late Friday imposes five-year terms for policy level directors across the entirety of HHS’ divisions that include the Health Resources and Services Administration and Food and Drug Administration centers.

“Most Americans have performance reviews every year, Congress faces election every two years, and presidents every four; requesting reviews of agency leaders twice a decade is common sense management, reinforces our commitment to diversity and workforce development, and builds on recent congressionally mandated term limits at NIH,” said HHS Chief of Staff Brian Harrison in a statement.

The first term for these agency directors will start ending on staggered dates in December 2021 and the rule would affect 66 career scientists.

HHS said that the scientists will not be fired or have their pay reduced under the rule but instead would be appointed somewhere else in the agency.

The rule will help to maximize “opportunities for many career officials who otherwise would not have the same opportunity for career advancement and professional development,” HHS said in a release.

The agency noted that NIH already has such a policy for its 27 institute and center directors. That policy was put in place by Congress as part of the 21st Century Cures Act.

The move comes after scrutiny of the agency over political interference into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Outgoing HHS Secretary Alex Azar told Congress back in October that political influence also wouldn’t interfere with the approval of the COVID-19 vaccine ahead of the presidential election. The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis released a report that the agency made a pattern of sidelining top scientists during the response to the pandemic.

HHS said in its statement that the rule is the latest in a series of good governance reforms made by the agency.

The agency recently finalized a rule that requires a review of any rules 10 years after their approval. The rule gives HHS five years to review any older rules that are a decade or older and determine if they are still relevant or should expire.