Federal Manager's Daily Report

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OPM has proposed rules to carry out provisions of two laws designed to provide a path for certain temporary employees in federal land management agencies to compete for vacant permanent positions under merit promotion procedures.

“Because many agencies fill nonentry level jobs using merit promotion procedures qualified temporary employees may never be considered for these jobs,” OPM said in a May 15 Federal Register notice. Laws enacted in 2015 and 2017 aimed to address that issue by allowing a current or former employee of a land management agency under a time-limited appointment to compete for a permanent position in the competitive service.

That applies “either at such an agency, when the agency is accepting applications from individuals within the agency’s workforce under its merit promotion procedures, or at any agency, when the hiring agency is accepting applications from individuals outside its own workforce under the merit promotion procedures of the hiring agency,” it said.

The notice includes qualifying criteria for job applicants and lists the affected agencies as the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs and Bureau of Reclamation.

Direct Hire Authority Authorized for Range of DoD Occupations (April 28)

OPM: Higher Incentive Pay Possible for COVID-19 Response (April 7)

BLM Employees Forced to Relocate Kept Out of Loop, GAO Says (March 10)

Federal Manager’s Handbook, 6th Ed.