[Federal Register: April 7, 1995 (Volume 60, Number 67)] [Proposed Rules] [Page 17655-17656] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr07ap95-14] ======================================================================== Proposed Rules Federal Register ________________________________________________________________________ This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules. ======================================================================== [[Page 17655]] OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT 5 CFR Part 316 RIN 3206-AG 62 Bringing Nonpermanent Excepted Positions Into the Competitive Service AGENCY: Office of Personnel Management. ACTION: Proposed rule. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) proposes to revise its regulations governing retention of employees whose excepted positions are brought into the competitive service to permit the employees to receive term appointments if their excepted appointments had time limits longer than 1 year. This would avoid hardship to the employees, who could otherwise be retained only as temporary employees without benefits. DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 6, 1995. ADDRESSES: Send or deliver written comments to Leonard R. Klein, Associate Director for Employment, Office of Personnel Management, Room 6F08, 1900 E Street NW., Washington, DC 20415. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tracy E. Spencer, (202) 606-0830, or fax (202) 606-2329. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Civil Service Rule III (5 CFR 3.1) authorizes OPM to prescribe conditions under which ``a person who occupies a permanent position when it is placed in the competitive service * * * or is otherwise made subject to competitive examination'' may acquire a competitive status. OPM's regulations implementing this authority are found in 5 CFR 315.701, 316.701, and 316.702. Those regulations permit nonpermanent employees whose positions are brought into the competitive service to be retained only under temporary appointments limited to 1 year or less. When the regulations were written, almost all nonpermanent positions inside and outside the Federal Government were filled by such temporary appointments. Giving those employees temporary appointments in the competitive service permitted them to continue serving, with no change in employment conditions, until they completed the work for which they were hired. That is still generally true when positions are brought into the service from outside the Federal Government. In the Federal excepted service, however, an increasing number of excepted positions are filled under appointments with time limits longer than 1 year (comparable to term appointments in the competitive service). Those positions may be brought into the competitive service by revocation of a statutory appointing authority or an exception under Schedule A, B, or C, or by an OPM determination that the authority no longer covers the positions. Employees whose excepted appointments have limits longer than 1 year are eligible for within-grade increases, promotions and reassignments, and retirement and insurance benefits that are not available to temporary employees in the competitive service. The logical way to allow those employees to complete their work with no change in employment conditions would be to retain them under term appointments. The proposed regulations would add provision for such term appointments. The regulations would also make editorial changes and would remove obsolete references to the Federal Personnel Manual. Regulatory Flexibility Act I certify that these regulations will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities (including small businesses, small organizational units, and small governmental jurisdictions) because they apply only to Federal employees. List of Subjects in 5 CFR Part 316 Government employees. U.S. Office of Personnel Management. James B. King, Director. Accordingly, OPM proposes to amend 5 CFR part 316 as follows: PART 316--TEMPORARY AND TERM EMPLOYMENT 1. The authority citation for part 316 continues to read as follows: Authority: 5 U.S.C. 3301, 3302, and E.O. 10577 (3 CFR 1954-1958 Comp., p. 218); Sec. 316.302 also issued under 5 U.S.C. 3304(c), 38 U.S.C. 2014, and E.O. 12362, as revised by E.O. 12585; Sec. 316.402 also issued under 5 U.S.C. 3304(c) and 3312, 22 U.S.C. 2506 (93 Stat. 371), E.O. 12137, 38 U.S.C. 2014, and E.O. 12362, as revised by E.O. 12585 and E.O. 12721. 2. In Sec. 316.701, paragraph (c) is revised to read as follows: Sec. 316.701 Public or private enterprise taken over by the Government. * * * * * (c) An agency may retain an employee under paragraph (a) of this section in a position that it determines is noncontinuing under a temporary appointment. That appointment may be made for a period not to exceed 1 year and will be subject to the time limits set out in Sec. 316.402. 3. In Sec. 316.702, paragraphs (b)(1) and (c) are revised and a new paragraph (d) is added to read as follows: Sec. 316.702 Excepted positions brought into the competitive service. * * * * * (b)(1) When an agency retains an employee under paragraph (a) of this section who was serving in an excepted position under an indefinite appointment or an appointment without time limit, the agency may convert that employee's appointment to career or career-conditional under Sec. 315.701. * * * * * (c) An employee who was serving under an excepted appointment limited to 1 year or less may be retained as a temporary employee under paragraph (a) of this section until the scheduled expiration date of the employee's excepted appointment. Extension of the employee's temporary appointment beyond that date will be subject to the provisions of Sec. 316.402. (d) An employee who was serving under an excepted appointment with a definite time limit longer than 1 year may be retained under a term appointment. The appointment will be subject to all conditions generally applicable to term appointments and may be extended up to the maximum limit for term appointments established [[Page 17656]] under Sec. 316.301. Service under the employee's excepted appointment counts against the maximum limit for the term appointment. * * * * * [FR Doc. 95-8597 Filed 4-6-95; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6325-01-M