Temporary, Seasonal, and Intermittent Employment in the Excepted Service

summary: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) proposes to revise

its regulations to consolidate excepted service authorities for filling

temporary, intermittent, and seasonal jobs, to remove coverage for

appointments that no longer meet the criteria for exception, and to

establish a new excepted service authority which could be used by

agencies to meet urgent, short-term hiring needs.

dates: Comments must be received on or before November 25, 1994.

addresses: Send or deliver written comments to Leonard R. Klein,

Associate Director for Career Entry, Office of Personnel Management,

Room 6F08, 1900 E Street, NW., Washington, DC 20415.

for further information contact: Tracy E. Spencer, (202) 606-0830, or

fax (202) 606-2329.

supplementary information: This proposal is the second step in OPM's

program to simplify temporary hiring authorities and ensure their

appropriate use. Regulations were proposed on February 1, 1994, (59 FR

4601) to set a uniform service limit for temporary appointments in both

the competitive and the excepted service at 1 year with no more than

one 1-year extension. The regulations now proposed would revise and

consolidate paragraphs (i) and (m) of Sec. 213.3102, which both cover

temporary, intermittent, and seasonal employment in the excepted

service. The revision would eliminate overlapping and obsolete

appointing authorities.

In July 1993, OPM advised all agencies that use Schedule A

authorities which were established specifically for temporary or

seasonal employment that, if they wished to retain the authorities,

they would need to justify why examining for the positions is

impracticable. Our intent was to identify the situations where excepted

service hiring is appropriate and to replace individual agencies'

authorities with a Governmentwide authority that could be used by any

agency in those situations. However, agencies reported only one

situation that would have general applicability and one that may have

general applicability. The rest are so agency-specific that creation of

a Governmentwide authority would serve no practical purpose.

Temporary and less-than-full-time hiring in remote locations.

Several agencies need to hire short-term or supplemental staff, often

on short notice, in locations that are remote or isolated from a

population center. Examining for these jobs is impracticable when: Only

residents of the immediate area can be expected to reach the work site

whenever they are needed; the amount of employment involved would not

encourage outside applicants to move to the isolated area; and staff

from an OPM or agency examining office could not readily reach the

location to administer tests or conduct recruiting.

We propose to establish a Schedule A authority that would define

``remote/isolated location'' and would limit excepted employment to

1,040 working hours in a service year. Any agency could use the

authority, without prior OPM approval, for jobs that meet the

conditions set out in the regulation.

Urgent, short-term hiring needs. OPM is abolishing the Federal

Personnel Manual (FPM), as recommended by the National Performance

Review. OPM has granted certain authorities to agencies through the FPM

that are not specifically reflected in regulations. One of those

authorities (set out in section 2-9 of FPM Chapter 316) allows agencies

to make temporary appointments not to exceed 30 days and to extend

those appointments for no more than 30 additional days without regard

to normal appointment procedures. Unless that authority is incorporated

in a regulation, it will be lost when FPM Chapter 316 is abolished in

December 1994.

We believe the special need authority serves a valid purpose and

should be continued as an excepted service appointing authority.

(Competitive requirements have never applied to special need

appointments.) Service limits and conditions for use of the current

special need authority would remain the same. The new Schedule A

authority would be available for use by any agency without prior OPM

approval.

Fellowships and related programs. Three agencies suggested creation

of a Governmentwide authority covering post-doctoral fellowships,

internships, and similar programs designed to increase the pool of

candidates in a particular specialty for all employers, not just the

Federal Government. On May 13, 1994, we published proposed regulations

that would create a consolidated authority for employment of students.

However, several agencies have internship or fellowship programs that

provide professional experience to individuals who have completed their

formal education.

We agree that a consolidated authority for those appointments would

be appropriate. We expect to consider consolidation of most Schedule A

and B appointing authorities--not only those covering temporary

hiring--and may propose creation of a fellowship authority. In the

meantime, however, we are not sure that such an authority should be

restricted to temporary employment. Many appointments under existing

programs are made for periods longer than 1 year.

Consequently, we have not included a specific provision for

internship or fellowship appointments in the proposed authority for

temporary Schedule A appointments. We welcome your comments on this

issue, however, and will add such a provision if there is sufficient

interest. If there is not enough interest to justify a Governmentwide

authority, we would entertain requests for single-agency exceptions

from agencies wishing to establish temporary fellowship programs.

Other positions. Several agencies reported specific situations in

which competitive hiring procedures would not be appropriate or

effective. However, because each of these situations is unique to the

agency involved, issuance of Governmentwide Schedule A authorities

would serve no practical purpose. Therefore, the proposed regulation

would provide for exception of additional positions with prior OPM

approval.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

I certify that these regulations will not have a significant

economic impact on a substantial number of small entities (including

small businesses, small organizational units, and small governmental

jurisdictions) because they apply only to Federal employees.

List of Subjects in 5 CFR Part 213

Government employees, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

Office of Personnel Management.

James B. King,

Director.

Accordingly, OPM proposes to amend 5 CFR part 213 as follows:

PART 213--EXCEPTED SERVICE

1. The authority citation for part 213 is revised to read as

follows:

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 3301 and 3302, E.O. 10577, 3 CFR 1954-1958

Comp., p. 218; Sec. 213.101 also issued under 5 U.S.C. 2103;

Sec. 213.3102 also issued under 5 U.S.C. 3301, 3302 (E.O. 12364, 47

FR 22931), 3307, 8337(h), and 8456.

2. In Sec. 213.3102, paragraph (i) is revised and paragraph (m) is

removed and reserved, as follows:

Sec. 213.3102 Entire executive civil service.

* * * * *

(i) Temporary and less-than-full-time positions, as follows:

(1) Positions in remote/isolated locations where examination is

impracticable. A remote/isolated location is outside the local

commuting area of a population center from which an employee can

reasonably be expected to travel on short notice under adverse weather

and/or road conditions which are normal for the area. For this purpose,

a population center is a town with housing, schools, health care,

stores and other businesses in which the servicing examining office can

schedule tests and/or reasonably expect to attract applicants. An

individual appointed under this authority may not be employed in the

same agency under a combination of this and any other appointment for

more than 1,040 working hours in a service year. Temporary appointments

under this authority may be extended in 1-year increments, with no

limit on the number of such extensions, as an exception to the service

limits in Sec. 213.104.

(2) Positions for which a critical hiring need exists. This

includes both short-term positions and continuing positions that an

agency must fill on an interim basis pending completion of competitive

examining, clearances, or other procedures required for a longer

appointment. Appointments under this authority may not exceed 30 days

and may be extended for up to an additional 30 days if continued

employment is essential to the agency's operations. The appointments

may not be used to extend the service limit of any other appointing

authority. An agency may not employ the same individual under this

authority for more than 60 days in any 12-month period.

(3) Other positions for which OPM determines that examining is

impracticable.

* * * * *

(m) [Reserved]

* * * * *

[FR Doc. 94-23716 Filed 9-23-94; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6325-01-M