OPM FINALIZES RULES REGARDING THE CAREER-CONDITIONAL
EMPLOYMENT SYSTEM

Washington, D.C. -- The Office of Personnel Management has issued final regulations on the career-conditional employment system regarding career tenure, reinstatement, transfer, and probationary period requirements. The regulations were previously contained in the Federal Personnel Manual (FPM) which was eliminated on December 31, 1994 as part of OPM's reinvention initiatives.

The final rules outline the necessary time requirements needed in the federal competitive service for a career-conditional employee to gain career tenure. Employees must serve three years of substantially continuous creditable service to obtain tenure. Earlier OPM had proposed rules that would have linked career tenure to the completion of the probationary period, generally completed after one year of satisfactory service. However, comments received by OPM regarding the proposal reflected a concern over its impact on the reduction in force process. OPM has decided to defer a decision on the proposal at this time rather than introduce another new factor when agencies may be facing a significant level of RIF activity in the near future.

The final regulations also address the rules for reinstating an employee who has career-conditional status. An employee who does not fulfill the three-year requirement for career tenure and does not qualify for Veterans Preference can be reinstated only within three years following the date of separation. Earlier, OPM had proposed to simplify the reinstatement eligibility rules. This proposal would have allowed a former career-conditional employee to be reinstated without a time limit. OPM also is deferring a decision on this proposal.

Also included in the final rules are regulations on crediting prior service toward an employee's probationary period. The rules allow federal employees to count previous government service toward completion of the one-year probationary period if the prior service was in the same agency, same line of work, and without a break in service of more than 30 calendar days.

The final rules appeared in the Federal Register on October 16, 1995.

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