Digest of Significant Classification Decisions and Opinions, No.
28, April 2002   


United States
Office of Personnel Management


Office of Merit Systems Oversight and Effectiveness
Digest of Significant Classification Decisions and Opinions
April 2002
Article No. 28-07


Standard: General Schedule Supervisory Guide (June 1998)

Factor: N/A

Issue: Crediting term and temporary work


 Identification of the Classification Issue

An agency requested guidance on how to credit term and temporary
work when applying the General Schedule Supervisory Guide (Guide)
in reviewing a classification request from a subordinate activity
for one of its positions. The second-level supervisory position
supervised approximately 21 staff years of permanent work, 13 to
16 staff years of temporary and term General Schedule work, 6 to
15 staff years of temporary Federal Wage System work, and
fluctuating amounts of volunteer work. Seven of the 21 permanent
positions were supervisory. The activity evaluated all
supervisory positions as consisting of 25 percent supervisory and
75 percent nonsupervisory work. Given the time-limited nature of
the work, the activity proposed excluding 12 staff years of term,
2 staff years of support, 2 staff years of student, and all
temporary work from its base level analysis. Based on these
exclusions, the activity credited a GS-12 base level (Level 5-7),
and Level 6-5 based on coordinating and integrating the GS-12
level work credited under Factor 5. The agency, however,
declined to exclude the term and temporary positions, based on
the Guide's definition of supervisor.

  Resolution

The Guide's definition of supervisor includes directing the work
of temporary employees, unpaid volunteers, student trainees, and
others. Both the agency and the activity credited the position
at Level 3-3 because of its second-level supervisory
responsibilities. However, organizational information showed
that six of the seven subordinate supervisory positions met that
designation based on directing nonpermanent work. Three
permanent support positions were created to support both
permanent and non-permanent workloads. Excluding the
nonpermanent work would undermine the crediting of Level 3-3 to
the second-level supervisory position. OPM agreed with the
agency's rationale that temporary and term work must be
considered in applying the Guide.

OPM also reviewed the activity's rationale for Factors 5 and 6.
The organization's structure was based on the presence of
temporary and term work. Because nonsupport term and temporary
work had to be considered, OPM found that the base level of work
(constituting 25 percent of the workforce) was below the GS-12
level. Six of the seven subordinate supervisory positions were
classified using a base level of work representative of the
predictable project workload performed by a mix of permanent,
term and temporary staff. OPM advised using the same approach in
crediting the temporary and term work to the second-level
supervisory position in applying all factors of the Guide.