Transition Could be a Long One

Revised personnel policies for the Homeland Security Department employees would not take effect immediately, however. There will be a transition period in creating the new department that ultimately could take years to complete. The legislation specifies that the personnel policies be set jointly by the Office of Personnel Management and the department’s secretary-and a secretary might not be in place for several months. The law gives the new agency 60 days to write a transition plan and then imposes a 90-day moratorium on any action on that plan in order to give Congress time to review it. Federal unions then would get 30 days to review the changes and make their recommendations, discussions could then begin and the agency at its discretion could then submit the issue for mediation or carry out the policies as it intends. Thus, personnel policies likely won’t be changed until mid-2003 at the earliest.