HR professionals have a responsibility to educate managers regarding what a hiring authority appears to permit and about their broader obligations regarding merit system principles and prohibited personnel practices, or PPPs, the Merit Systems Protection Board has said.
It cited a case (Special Counsel v. Lee and Beatrez) in which two HR specialists were charged with committing a PPP by helping a manager by canceling a vacancy for which the targeted candidate was not referred and then issuing a new announcement tailored to the desired candidate.
An administrative law judge concluded that one of the HR specialists committed a PPP because he knew of the supervisor’s motive for re-announcing the opening, which was to rig the selection process in favor of a known candidate.
While agencies have the right to re-style and re-advertise vacancy announcements when adequate pools of qualified applicants cannot be found, that should not be done to circumvent the merit systems by designing the announcement to suit a specific candidate, MSPB said. It recommends that managers, selecting officials and other personnel decision-makers partner with HR professionals to help ensure that their personnel actions are consistent with the MSPs and avoid the PPPs.