I-2025-15
| Effective Date: | Expiration Date: | Chapters: |
| Nov. 20, 2025 | When Superseded | 2 4 |
The District government experiences challenges with the internal movement of employees without sufficient review of their past performance or conduct. As a result, individuals with ongoing performance issues or pending or active disciplinary actions sometimes move to new agencies, creating new problems and undermining District government operations.
To maintain the integrity of District government operations, DCHR is reiterating its expectations for reference checks for all employees and enforcing this by updating its procedure for processing internal employee movements. This issuance explains the expectations and procedure for processing internal employee movements.
To limit the movement of employees who have demonstrated issues with conduct or performance, or whose conduct or performance is under critical agency review, agencies may not consider for hire, employees or applicants who are “Movement Status Ineligible – MSI.”
MSI is a temporary freeze on any internal movement of a current District government employee, (i.e., from one agency to another, or within an agency) until the employee’s personnel issue is either fully investigated or resolved.
In the initial screening process, during the assembly of the selection register, agencies must review employment applications to determine whether the applicant is a current District government employee. If so, agencies must contact the HRA of the employee’s current agency. Receiving agencies may only proceed with the recruitment process for the applicant if they are not MSI. Sending agencies must not specify the specific reason as to why an employee is MSI and should only inform the receiving agency whether the employee is considered MSI.
After completing the screening for a vacancy announcement, if a current District employee is included in the list of applicants that would be included on a register and sent to the hiring manager, the receiving agency HRA must have a preliminary call with the employee’s current agency to verify whether the employee is MSI. This step must be performed before any further consideration of the current employee who has applied to the position (i.e., before the employee is sent to the hiring manager or interviewed). If the employee is MSI, the employee cannot be hired at that time and cannot be added to a selection register. The receiving agency may not proceed with the recruitment process (placement on a register, interviews, etc.) until the internal movement eligibility confirmation is performed. Agencies must complete this step before forwarding a District employee’s application to a hiring manager for consideration.
If an employee is not MSI, the receiving agency must document it by completing Part 1 of the Employee Movement Checklist (Attachment 1).
Please note that internal movement eligibility confirmation is a distinct step that precedes general suitability and the recruitment process.
If it is determined in pre-screening that the employee is not MSI, the receiving agency may proceed with the normal steps of the recruitment process (i.e., placement on a register, and interviews).
If an agency is considering a current District government employee for the appointment, agencies must perform an additional, post-interview, internal reference check before the extension of a contingent offer. Receiving agencies must use and complete Part 2 of the Employee Movement Checklist (Attachment 1) to perform the internal reference check. Upon completion of Part 2 of Attachment 1, both the receiving agency and sending agency must sign the affidavit (Attachment 2) verifying a thorough internal check occurred.
Agencies should not perform internal reference checks for candidates who are not being considered for appointment. (I.e., The steps in Part 2 of the Employee Movement Checklist only need to be performed for internal candidates whom an agency is considering extending an offer.)
Irrespective of the discretionary general suitability exemption for current District employees in DPM § 402.2, subordinate agencies are expected to perform General Suitability checks for internal candidates in addition to the Internal Movement Eligibility Confirmation and Internal Reference Check.
DCHR and the Director of Personnel expect agencies and HRAs to conduct their share of due diligence when facilitating movements between agencies. Agencies must conduct general suitability screenings for new hires, and are highly encouraged to do so for internal employee movements. DCHR reserves the right to delay movement until all necessary steps are completed.
After completing screening, if a current District employee would be placed on a register, the receiving agency contacts the employee’s current agency to determine whether the employee is MSI. Do not proceed if the employee is MSI. If the employee is not MSI, the receiving agency must complete Part 1 of Attachment 1.
The receiving agency proceeds with the hiring process as normal to include placement on a register and interviews.
After interviews are conducted, if the agency is considering selecting a current District government employee for the position, they must perform an internal reference check before the extension of any contingent offer. This check is conducted by completing Part 2 of Attachment 1.
The sending agency must also provide the receiving agency copies of the comments (not the rating or score) from the employee’s most recent annual performance evaluation. If comments are not available, the sending agency may need to connect with the employee’s current supervisor for additional information about the employee’s performance.
After completing Part 2 of Attachment 1, both the receiving and sending agency HRAs must sign the affidavit (Attachment 2).
After completing Attachments 1 and 2, the receiving agency may extend a contingent offer in accordance with standard hiring procedures.
The receiving agency should perform general suitability as they normally would.
Connect with your HRSA liaison to process the hiring action as normal. If the selected candidate is a current District government employee, the receiving agency must include Attachments 1 and 2 in the hiring package, and the comments from the employee’s most recent performance evaluation (not the rating). DCHR reserves the right to place a hold on the PAR action and delay a movement until the necessary documentation is supplied.
This policy applies to all internal District government movements, including movements within a single agency.
When an internal movement is initiated within an agency, the same steps shall be performed as described in the previous section, except that the agency HRA will contact the employee’s current manager for relevant information when completing Part 2 of Attachment 1, and the employee’s current manager shall sign the Affidavit (Attachment 2) in place of the “sending agency.”
If an internal agency movement requires communicating or liaising with multiple managers (e.g., moving between divisions, or assignments to a different manager), agency HR must perform the internal movement eligibility confirmation by speaking to the employee’s current manager and liaising with the employee’s prospective new manager when necessary. HR representatives must facilitate this process and cannot refer managers to other managers to ask the guiding questions needed to complete Part 2 of Attachment 1. The agency HR representative is responsible for performing hiring functions, including the gathering of information necessary to complete Attachments 1 and 2.
Issued by Director Charles Hall Jr., D.C. Department of Human Resources on Oct. 20, 2026, midnight