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U.S. Office of Personnel ManagementVariations to Staffing Regulations |
Administrative Careers With America (ACWA): A program which offers competitive, entry-level (GS-5 and GS-7 levels) employment, through written examination and multiple choice questionnaire, in several general occupational areas: health, safety and environmental; writing and public information; business, finance, and management; personnel, administration, and computers; benefits review, tax, and legal; law enforcement and investigation.
Break In Service: The amount of time someone is not on an agency payroll (i.e., the time between separation and reemployment). For career-conditional employees, a break in service means not being on an agency payroll for more than thirty calender days.
Career Appointment/Employee: The employment status of a permanent employee who has completed three years of substantially continuous, creditable service.
Career-Conditional Appointment/Employee: The employment status of a permanent employee who has not completed three years of substantially continuous, creditable service.
Career Tenure: After serving three years of substantially continuous creditable service, a career conditional employee becomes a career employee and gains career tenure. Employees with career tenure have permanent reinstatement eligibility and may be considered for positions without having to take another competitive civil service examination. Substantially continuous service means service without a break for more than 30 calender days (i.e., the break must be for less than or equal to 30 calender days).
Competitive Examination: A means of measuring the relative qualifications of applicants in competition for given positions.
Competitive Service: All civilian positions in the Federal Government that are not specifically excepted from civil service laws by or pursuant to statute, by the President, or by th U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) under Rule VI. OPM is authorized to determine finally whether a position is in the competitive service.
Creditable Service: Qualifying service necessary to achieve full career status. For career tenure, creditable service is three years of qualifying experience.
de facto employment (or service): the actual appointment of an employee, regardless of legal or regulatory considerations; synonomous with an erroneous appointment.
Excepted Service: All civilian positions which are specifically excepted from the requirements of the Civil Service Act or from the competitive service by statute or by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management by regulation 5 CFR 6.1.
GG (General Government): A pay plan for grades similar to the General Schedule. The GG pay plan is used by many agencies who hire employees on a temporary or term basis.
GM (General Manager): An employee formerly paid under the Performance Management and Recognition System (PMRS). GM employees are now paid under the GS system.
GS (General Schedule): A graded pay system established under the Classification Act of 1949.
Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP): refers to regulations established in 1996 which provide selection priority to displaced Federal employees when applying for jobs in other Federal agencies.
Open examination: A competitive examination is an examination which has been announced and for which the closing date for receipt of applications has not passed.
Outstanding Scholar Appointment: A special hiring authority established for entry-level administrative positions at the GS-5 and GS-7 grade levels. This appointment was authorized under the terms of a consent decree (Luevano vs. Newman), and can only be used to fill specific job series and titles by applicants who meet certain requirements.
Reachable/Within Reach: One of the top three qualified candidates on a register.
Register: A list of eligible applicants compiled in order of their relative standing for referral to Federal jobs, after competitive civil service examinations.
Regularize: An attempt to determine, through reconstruction of a register, whether an employee on an erroneous appointment could have been properly appointed.
Rule of Three: A requirement that selection must be made from the highest three eligible candidates on the certificate who are available for the job to which they applied.
Service Center: A focal point for administering and implementing all Office of Personnel Management programs in the geographic area assigned. Principal source of employment information for agencies and the public.
Superior Qualifications Appointments: Appointment of a candidate to a position in grade 11 or above of the General Schedule at a pay rate above the minimum because of the candidate's superior qualifications. A rate above the minimum for the grade must be justified by the applicant's unusually high or unique qualifications, a special need of the Government for the candidate's services, or because the candidate's current pay is higher than the minimum for the grade which he or she is offered.
Term Appointment: Nonpermanent appointment expected to last longer than one year, but less than four years.
Time-In-Grade: The length of time served at a certain grade level. It usually is used in reference to the length of time needed to satisfy the promotion requirements of the next highest level.
Time-In-Grade Restrictions: Requirements intended to prevent excessively rapid promotions in the General Schedule. Generally, an employee may not be promoted more than two grades within one year to positions up to GS-5. Above GS-5, an employee must servre a minimum of one year in grade, and cannot be promoted more than one grade, or two grades if that is the normal progression.
Time-limited Job: A non-permanent position with a specific starting and ending date.
Unassembled Examination: An examination which does not require a written test.
WG (Wage Grade): A pay system for employees in trades, crafts, or labor occupations covered by the Federal Wage System, whose pay is fixed and adjusted periodically in accordance with prevailing rates.
WS (Wage Supervisor): A pay system for supervisors of employees in trades, crafts, or labor occupations covered by the Federal Wage System, whose pay is fixed and adjusted periodically in accordance with prevailing rates.
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Page created October 16, 1997