United States

Office of Personnel Management

Office of Merit Systems Oversight and Effectiveness

Digest of Significant Classification Decisions and Opinions

January 1984

No. 04-01

Standard:	Miscellaneous Clerk and Assistant Series, GS-0303

Clerk-Typist Series, GS-0322

Factor:	N/A

Issue:	Classification of positions which combine general office work with typing duties

Identification of the Classification Issue

Several agencies and Office of Personnel Management offices have requested guidance on determining the proper series for positions assigned general or nonspecialized clerical duties which are classified at a grade level higher than that appropriate for the assigned typing duties. While the classification standards for both the Miscellaneous Clerk and Assistant Series, GS- 0303, and the Clerk-Typist Series, GS-0322, provide considerable information on determining series for clerical positions, the following supplementary discussion may be helpful.

Resolution

General office work is procedural in nature and is characterized by the performance of such nonspecialized clerical duties as answering the phone; filing; opening and distributing the mail; carrying out simple and routine mathematical computations; processing documents, forms, or other paperwork; maintaining logs; or other similar duties which do not require specialized knowledge, experience, or training. General office work will rarely if ever exceed the GS-4 level.

While the grade-controlling duties will most often determine the series of a position, this is not always true. When general office work is combined with duties which require performance by a qualified typist, the typing skill determines the series. For example, many positions are assigned general office duties classifiable at GS-4 and typing duties classifiable at GS-3. When such a combination occurs, the position is to be placed in the Clerk-Typist Series even though that series does not represent the highest level of work performed. The Miscellaneous Clerk and Assistant Series is not appropriate for such positions since the work is covered by the Clerk-Typist Series.

When specialized clerical duties are combined with typing duties, the appropriate series is either a specialized clerical series or the Miscellaneous Clerk and Assistant Series. Since the Clerk-Typist Series covers only general office work combined with typing, it is not appropriate for such positions. Clerical duties which are properly classified at GS-5 or higher nearly always require some kind of identifiable substantive knowledge and are specialized in nature even though sometimes the work may appear to be general office work.