Some of the most common improper practices involve manipulating the hiring process. Image: Andrii Yalanskyi/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffFewer federal employees say they have personally experienced or seen “prohibited personnel practices” in their workplaces overall but instances meanwhile increased regarding several of those barred practices, including several relating to political coercion.
An MSPB report says that in a survey that agency conducted in 2021, 15.3 percent said they had personally experienced one of those practices over the prior two years and another 14 percent said they had seen one. That compares with 22.6 and 23.5 percent in a similar 2016 survey and 14.9 and 19.2 in a 2010 survey.
That also is consistent with tends of reports of those so-called “PPPs” to the Office of Special Counsel, which investigates such complaints and can bring a case before the MSPB seeking disciplinary action against those responsible, it said.
One pattern that was consistent across all three surveys, it said, is that some of the most common improper practices involve manipulating the hiring process. For example, 16.3 percent said they have seen manipulation of the recruitment process or the qualifications requirements “for the purpose of improving the chances of a particular person”— down from 30.6 percent in 2016 and 22 percent in 2010, however.
Other hiring practice abuses that respondents experienced or saw included obstructing someone’s right to compete for employment, trying to influence someone to withdraw from competition for the purpose of helping someone else, advocating for the employment or advancement of a relative and knowing violations of veterans’ preference rights.
Also consistent, it said, is that of the practices involving discrimination, those based on race, gender or age were the most commonly cited. All three, plus discrimination based on religion, national origin, disabling condition or marital status, were little changed from 2010.
“These were the only two PPPs in 2021 that were notably higher than their 2010 levels. Political coercion perceptions doubled, from 2.3 to 4.6 percent, while political discrimination perceptions more than doubled, from 3.2 to 7.1 percent,” it said. The former involves pressuring someone to support or oppose a particular candidate or party for elected office while the latter involves how a person is treated based on their affiliations and views.
One notable decrease involved experiencing or observing retaliation for whistleblowing, which fell to 6.5 percent from 14.3 percent in 2016 and 8.1 percent in 2010. But of those, nearly two-thirds said that at least two levels of management were involved, which “appears to indicate that when problems exist, multiple levels of the organization may be playing a role.”
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