The American Federation of Government Employees today applauded the Merit Systems Protection Board’s ruling that the Federal Career Intern Program (FCIP) violates competitive hiring and veterans preference rules under Title 5. AFGE had filed an amicus brief in the case urging the board to strike down the FCIP.
In the Nov. 2 decision, MSPB ruled that the FCIP is inconsistent with Civil Service Rules that govern placement of positions in the excepted service because it does not require agencies to justify placing positions in the excepted service as required by statute. Under Title 5, excepted service authority should be granted only for “positions … for which it is not practicable to hold a competitive examination.” The board therefore ordered the Office of Personnel Management to comply with Title 5.
Social Security has made extensive use of FCIP. This will be a major change in hiring for Social Security if this holds up.
Relatives of people close to the thrones got these jobs in the past in some cases. Goode decision.
ReplyDeleteI must agree with Number 1 here because the office where I used to work was full of FCIPs that were relatives, friends or otherwise close to the DM and ADM. And then these same people got the promotions to TE and OS positions, that started out as "details" that went permanent without much competition or vacancy announcements.
ReplyDeleteI didn't pay much attention to the type of hiring my old DM was doing, but it was obvious there was favoritism. He had one favorite employee. He hired two of her friends, her sister, her brother, her brother-in-law. Her husband got hired at another office and when she got promoted and left our office, her husband got promoted and showed up. And two summer temps were also family members. When her brother got promoted from SR to CR, his family felt obligated to provide the office with a feast to show gratitude. I didn't attend. I have no doubt that he thought he was doing the right thing but was blind (or didn't give a damn) to the effect on the office staff his favoritism was causing.
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