United States

Office of Personnel Management

Office of Merit Systems Oversight and Effectiveness

Digest of Significant Classification Decisions and Opinions

January 1984

No. 04-02

Standard:	N/A

Factor:	N/A

Issue:	Grading of mixed-grade jobs in Federal Wage System.

Identification of the Classification Issue

This issue was raised in an agency request for an Office of Personnel Management advisory opinion.

The issue relates to the guidelines in the Federal Wage System Job Grading System: Part I-- Explanation of the Federal Wage System Job Grading System Part 1 of Federal Personnel Manual Supplement 512-1, Job Grading System for Trades and Labor Occupations, pages 10 and 11, for determining the grade level of "mixed jobs." A "mixed job" is defined as a job which "involves performance on a regular and recurring basis of duties in two or more occupations at the same or different grade levels." This definition specifies two or more occupations. The agency asked whether or not the guidelines apply also to mixed-grade jobs which involve performance of duties in only one occupation.

Resolution

Neither Federal Personnel Manual Supplement 512-1 nor any other Office of Personnel Management Federal Wage System publication provides guidelines identified explicitly for determining the grade of mixed-grade jobs involving the performance of duties in only one occupation. Office of Personnel Management concluded that the above guidelines apply equally to all mixed-grade jobs, including those involving the performance of duties in only one occupation.

The above conclusion applies also to the "mixed job" guidelines in Subchapter S6-5 of Federal Personnel Manual Supplement 532-1, page 37, and Subchapter S6-5 of Federal Personnel Manual Supplement 532-2, page 37.

In applying the guidelines, all the criteria should be carefully applied. There is no specified percentage-of-time requirement for duties controlling the grade of the job. However, special care should be exercised if the percentage devoted to the highest-grade duties is low (e.g., 15 percent). In this case there is a greater tendency to make the following errors: (1) crediting duties which are not repetitively performed on a continuing basis and, therefore, should not be credited in any way; (2) incorrectly assuming that the duties require the full range of work and qualifications necessary to warrant the grade being considered; and (3) incorrectly assuming that the duties are performed under normal supervision for the grade being considered when they are performed under closer supervision and, therefore, overgrading the job.