[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 67 (Friday, April 7, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 17655-17656]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-8597]



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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.

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Federal Register / Vol. 60, No. 67 / Friday, April 7, 1995 / Proposed 
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.

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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]
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