U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce

Redefinition of Official Personnel Actions

The Office of Personnel Management changed some of the definitions for personnel actions effective January 1, 1999. These changes affect what can be filed in an employee's Official Personnel Folder.

• Memorandum
• Human Resources Information Systems
• Revised Central Personnel Data File reporting requirements for dynamics file submissions
• Elimination of the Leave With Pay nature of action
• Elimination of Official Personnel Folder filing requirements
• Memorandum in Portable Document Format (PDF)

Memorandum

CAROL J. OKIN
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
FOR MERIT SYSTEMS OVERSIGHT AND EFFECTIVENESS

This memorandum is an advance notice of changes we will be making in personnel action documentation and Central Personnel Data File requirements. These changes result from a review we conducted and shared with you in August 1997. Your comments on that review were very helpful and are reflected in the final product. The revised procedures are described in the enclosure.

The revised procedures will continue to allow us to meet Governmentwide statistical information needs while protecting the employees' and Government's interest in maintaining an accurate employment history. They will also reduce the personnel offices' Official Personnel Folder filing requirements by an estimated 1.6 million documents a year.

The revised procedures will be effective January 1, 1999. The appropriate Operating Manuals will be revised to reflect the new procedures prior to their effective date. (See Table 3-C Awards [18 KB] on page 3-17 of the Guide to Personnel Recordkeeping.)

Questions on this memorandum should be directed to Andrew P. Klugh, Assistant Director for Workforce Information, on 202 606-2704. Email should be sent to owi@opm.gov.

Human Resources Information Systems

Through the Human Resources Technology Council, the Office of Personnel Management has committed to pursue the goal of establishing a central human resources data repository. This single system would be designed to meet all of the Government's human resources information needs. These include Governmentwide statistical information needs now being met through the Central Personnel Data File (CPDF) as well as information on individuals' Federal employment history now documented in the Official Personnel Folder (OPF).

Pursuit of such a goal will of necessity be a long term effort. We expect part of that effort will be correlating each piece of information with the specific purpose(s) it serves. This review has helped clarify the information needs served by official personnel actions. The review identified some personnel actions needed for statistical reports (CPDF) only, some actions needed to document individual employment histories (OPF) only, and one action no longer needed for either purpose.

Based on the review, we are revising CPDF dynamics file reporting requirements and OPF filing requirements. The following pages detail those revisions. The revisions will be effective January 1, 1999.

Revised Central Personnel Data File reporting requirements for dynamics file submissions

Submission of the following personnel actions as Central Personnel Data File (CPDF) dynamics records will be optional:

• Continuance NTE (nature of action 750)
• Change in Data Element (nature of action 800)
• Change in Hours (nature of action 782)
• Change in Veterans Preference (nature of action 883)
• Elected Living Benefits (natures of action 805 and 806)
• FEGLI Change (nature of action 881)
• Change in SCD (nature of action 882)
• Change in Tenure (nature of action 880

Agencies may continue to submit dynamics records for these actions or may discontinue reporting dynamics records for these actions at their option.

These changes are to CPDF dynamics file reporting requirements only. There are no changes to any of the following requirements:

• Processing personnel actions for the listed natures of action.
• Filing Official Personnel Folder documentation for the listed natures of action (i.e., filing Notifications of Personnel Action, Standard Forms 50, on the right side of the Personnel Folder.)
• Reporting all required data on CPDF status file records, including the current FEGLI code, Service Computation Date, and Tenure code.
• Reporting all required data elements on CPDF dynamics file records, including the current Service Computation Date and Tenure code, when required.

There will be no changes in the CPDF status file. There will be no changes in the data elements reported on CPDF dynamics records. There will be no changes in the format of CPDF dynamics records.

Elimination of the Leave With Pay nature of action

Nature of action code 462, Leave with Pay NTE, will be deleted. This nature of action is used to document placement of an employee on extended sick leave following approval of a retirement application. Agencies may develop internal methods such as time and attendance codes to collect information on these situations.

Elimination of Official Personnel Folder filing requirements

Agencies will no longer be required or authorized to file long-term official Personnel Folder (OPF) documentation of the following actions:

• Exception to RIF Release (nature of action 755)
• Realignment (nature of action 790)
• Recruitment Bonus (nature of action 815)
• Relocation Bonus (nature of action 816)
• Time off Award (nature of action 872)
• Foreign Language Award (nature of action 873)
• Gainsharing Award (nature of action 874)
• Suggestion Award (nature of action 875)
• Invention Award (nature of action 876)
• Special Act or Service Award (nature of action 877)
• SES Performance Award (nature of action 879)
• Performance Award (nature of action 885).

This change will be prospective. Standard Forms 50 or earlier types of documentation Already filed in the OPF will remain in the folder. No other Standard Forms 50 or similar documentation for the natures of action listed above will be filed on the right side of the OPF on or after January 1, 1999.

Agencies may file documentation of these actions on the left side of the OPF (temporary documents) at their option. Any actions kept on the left side of the OPF should be removed when the employee leaves the agency.

There are no changes to the Central Personnel Data File (CPDF) reporting requirements, for these actions. Agencies are still required to report all of these actions in CPDF dynamics submissions. The actions must be reported in the current CPDF file format, using the nature of action codes prescribed in the OPM Operating Manual, The Guide to Processing Personnel Actions. The CPDF records must contain all of the data fields required for that type of action.

We are also providing an unsigned copy of the Memorandum [12 KB]. If you need a signed copy of the memo, please provide us your fax number or address via email and we will send you one.

Originally published on June 3, 1998