“A Violation Of Federal Law”: National Park Service Orders Superintendents To Underrate Employees

Directors of the National Park Service (NPS) were reportedly instructed to grade their park employees lower, even if they hit the mark in their performance reviews. But advocates say that this is an apparent violation of the federal law and undermines the NPS's standards.

According to a report from the Washington Post , a top NPS official told the NPS superintendents that “the preponderance of ratings should be 3s” when they evaluate their park staff. Park officials use a scale of 1 to 5 to rate their employees' performance, with a rating of three for those who achieved their goals, four for those who exceeded expectations, and five for outstanding staff.

This move comes after only a month of the longest federal government shutdown on record, with park employees being forced to come