The Office of Special Counsel has said that former Housing and Urban Development secretary Alphonzo Jackson improperly rejected the selection of a qualified applicant for a career position because the applicant was then serving as a political appointee in the Bush administration.
OSC concluded that the applicant had been denied a career appointment solely because of his status as a Schedule C political appointee in the excepted service.
Although federal civil service law prohibits the conversion of political appointees to career positions for partisan political reasons, the OSC investigation determined that in this instance the applicant’s selection had been made through competitive examination based on merit factors.
It concluded that Jackson violated civil service regulations in considering non-merit factors. HUD has agreed to appoint the applicant to the position of field office director in Springfield, Ill., and reimburse the applicant for his attorney’s fees and other consequential damages.