United States

Office of Personnel Management

Office of Merit Systems Oversight and Effectiveness

Digest of Significant Classification Decisions and Opinions

April 1988

No. 11-04

Standard:	N/A

Factor:	N/A

Issue:	Small Shop Chiefs

Identification of the Classification Issue

This issue arose in a job grading appeal decided by an Office of Personnel Management region and reconsidered by the Classification Appeals Office. The question was whether a Federal Wage System position with "in charge" or quasi-supervisory responsibility for a small shop could be graded higher than the full performance level of work under the position's supervision.

Resolution

The appeal concerned a Medical Equipment Repairer, WG-4805-12, who was responsible for the medical equipment repair function at a medical facility and supervised two other Medical Equipment Repairer positions, WG-4805-11. The position was excluded from coverage by the Job Grading Standard for Supervisors and therefore could not be titled or graded as a foreman because it involved supervision of only two employees performing trades and labor work, rather than the minimum of three such employees.

Because the appellant did not perform nonsupervisory medical equipment repair duties, except on an emergency or incidental basis, it was inappropriate to grade his position by application of the standard for Medical Equipment Repairer, WG-4805. It was determined that the criteria used to grade the position must consider the grade-level worth of program responsibility and oversight and review of the work of other employees.

The following characteristics of the position were considered sufficient for grading the position one grade above the level of work for which the appellant was responsible:

1.	Two other employees were assigned to the shop on a permanent basis.

2.	The position had sole responsibility for the shop, which was a functional entity, and was completely accountable for all actions concerning the operation of the shop. The appellant was held fully responsible for subordinates including the quality and quantity of their work. Planning, work direction and administration, though somewhat limited by the size of the shop, were as depicted in the Job Grading Standard for Supervisors (WS) for foremen having the full range of supervisory responsibility.

3.	The appellant had no supervisor who could provide technical assistance in planning and overseeing the day-to-day work of the shop.

These characteristics are analogous to a concept described in the Job Grading Standard for Pest Controller, WG-5026. It was recognized that the appellant's work in medical equipment repair bore no apparent resemblance to that of a Pest Controller. In applying the Job Grading Standard for Pest Controller, however, we were showing that the appellant's work, though largely dissimilar to the work described in the WG-5026 standard, nevertheless corresponded to it in some respects.

In particular, the concept described in the Pest Controller standard which is analogous to the appellant's job is that of additional grade-level credit for program responsibility. In this standard, jobs with program responsibility are one grade higher than the full performance level in the occupation. The WG-10 Pest Controller, unlike the full performance WG-9 Pest Controller, is responsible for a complete facility pest control program in installations such as hospitals or smaller military facilities which require a complete pest management program but are not large enough to require a full-time technical supervisor. Pest controllers who must have the skill and knowledge found at the full performance level (WG-9) as well as the skill and knowledge required for planning, accomplishing, and maintaining a facility pest management program, and who have the responsibility for serving as an installation's principal pest controller with only administrative supervision, are graded one level above the full performance level (WG-10).

Accordingly, the principle derived from the Pest Controller standard is that an extra grade may be added to Federal Wage System positions above the full performance level if, in addition to equivalent skill, knowledge, and responsibility to those found at the full performance level, they supervise one or two other employees and have full program responsibility in the absence of any technical supervision.