AGENCIES: THIS NOTICE PROVIDES INFORMATION RELATIVE TO VARIATION REQUESTS. Section 5.1 of civil service rule V requires the Office of Personnel Management to inform agencies about variations which it grants under that rule.

1.		OPM has approved a precedent-setting variation under civil rule V to 5 CFR 330.604(b) and (f), and to 5 CFR 330.703(b), which set forth the categories of employees eligible for placement assistance under the interim CareerTtransition regulations. The variation permits excepted service employees eligible for noncompetitive appointment under the Criminal Justice Information Services Placement Assistance Act to be considered "surplus" or "displaced" for purposes of internal selection priority, and "displaced" for purposes of selection priority over other Federal employees under the Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP).

2.		Public Law 103-317, section 115, extends noncompetitive appointment eligibility to competitive service positions for employees of the Criminal Justice Information Services Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Justice, who do not relocate with their positions from Washington, DC, to Clarksburg, West Virginia. These individuals serve in positions excepted from the competitive service.

3.		Employees of the Criminal Justice Information Services Division of the FBI who decline a reassignment from Washington, DC to West Virginia will be separated from their positions. Under the current interim career transition regulations, these excepted service employees are not eligible for the special selection priority provisions, since they apply only to employees in the competitive service. Since under Public Law 103-317, section 115, these employees were given noncompetitive appointment eligibility to other Federal positions, it is clear that it was Congress' intent to help ease the transition of these employees to other Federal employment. These employees are highly specialized, and Federal hiring is at an all time low; thus, granting a variation to the regulations to receive special selection priority is within the spirit of the regulations.

4.		Variation was granted to avoid undue hardship to the employees of the Criminal Justice Information Services Division of the FBI because of the difficulty that these employees may face in finding other Federal employment at a time during which the Federal Government is undergoing downsizing and restructuring. In addition, the specialized skills that these employees have are not easily transferable to other jobs.

5.		Section 5.1 of civil service rule V requires that like variations be granted in like circumstances. Therefore, if an agency believes that it has a case which parallels the one described in this notice, it may request a variation. Agencies are reminded, however, that variation is appropriate only when no other authority exists to remedy the hardship or practical difficulty. All requests for variation must be sent through the headquarters of the agency or department involved and must be transmitted to the Office of Personnel Management for final action. Agencies do not have the authority to approve variations.

U.S. Office of Personnel Management

Variations to Staffing Regulations

Notice No: 46	Washington, DC 20415
Date: August 9, 1996