United States

Office of Personnel Management

Office of Merit Systems Oversight and Effectiveness

Digest of Significant Classification Decisions and Opinions

January 1984

No. 04-04

Standard:

Factor:

Issue:	Conversion of local national positions to General Schedule equivalents

Although the Supervisory Grade-Evaluation Guide was superseded by the General Schedule Supervisory Guide, the discussion in this article is still valid under the General Schedule Supervisory Guide.

Identification of the Classification Issue

This issue arose in the Office of Personnel Management's processing of a position classification appeal.

In evaluating supervisory positions, credit must sometimes be given for supervised positions which are not classifiable in the General Schedule. The general principle is that such positions are credited based on their equivalent classification by reference to General Schedule standards. Confusion may arise when the supervised positions have titles identical to those found in General Schedule standards.

The situation was as follows. The highest level of line work in the organization was represented by positions classified under a local national system as Criminal Investigators, levels 14 and 16. The agency installation equated these positions to those included in the GS-1811 series and credited the work at GS-9 and GS-11. Its evaluation of the Division Chief's position was accordingly accomplished using Part II of the Supervisory Grade-Evaluation Guide.

Resolution

The Office of Personnel Management found that the local national positions were not equivalent to positions properly included in the GS-1811 series. There was a separate organization at the installation which handled all felony cases. The investigations conducted by the local national positions were for minor crimes such as traffic violations, petty thefts, assaults not involving great bodily harm, domestic squabbles, possession of illegal drugs for personal use, etc. Such investigations are identified with the Police Series, GS-0083, and were found to substantially match the description for Detective at the GS-7 level. The proper standard for evaluation of this portion of the Division Chief's work was the Supervisory Grade-Evaluation Guide, Part I.