BREAKING NEWS: MSPB strikes down intern program
November 4th, 2010 | Office of Personnel Management | Posted by Stephen Losey
The Merit Systems Protection Board issued a decision Tuesday that appears to put the controversial Federal Career Intern Program on ice.
“The MPSB decision precludes OPM from continuing the Federal Career Intern Program until such time that OPM brings the program into compliance with Title 5,” AFGE Assistant General Counsel Andres Grajales said in a statement.
More to come.
UPDATE 1: MSPB ruled that the federal government has improperly placed FCIP positions in the excepted service, which let agencies avoid the legal requirement to notify the public that competitive service vacancies were available. Job seeker and plaintiff David Dean, a disabled veteran, argued that this violates his right to seek federal employment, and MSPB agreed.
MSPB further ruled that FCIP violates veterans preference laws because it doesn’t require the government to justify the placement of positions in the excepted service. (Excepted service is primarily meant to fill jobs where it isn’t practical to hold a competition.) MSPB said FCIP has been used to fill positions with non-veterans, who ordinarily should not have been picked ahead of job seekers who were veterans.
MSPB ordered OPM to bring FCIP into compliance with Title 5 laws governing veterans preference within 120 days. MSPB also ordered the Veterans Affairs Department to “reconstruct the hiring process” for nine positions in Columbia, S.C., that another plaintiff, Larry Evans, applied for in 2009.
This is big news. We’ll keep looking into this — check back tomorrow for more.
Federal Career Intern Program: What do you think?
May 24th, 2010 | HR Management | Posted by Stephen Losey
Are you a hiring manager or HR official who has used the controversial Federal Career Intern Program to bring on new employees? Do you find it to be an efficient, useful hiring tool? Is it better than the standard hiring process, and if so, why? Or have you seen your office abuse its authorities to sidestep veterans preference, merit principles and hire managers’ favorites, as unions allege is frequently the case?
Federal Times is interested in hearing your impressions of FCIP — how it works, its upsides, and its downsides. Feel free to e-mail me at slosey@federaltimes.com if you’d like to talk. If you’d prefer to talk off the record, or for me to not use your name in my story, that would be fine by me.
Tags: Federal Career Intern Program, hiring, what do you think?
Berry: KSAs will be Gone with the Wind
April 13th, 2010 | Office of Personnel Management | Posted by Stephen Losey
As God is my witness, KSAs as an initial screening tool will fall.
Tags: hiring, IRMCO, John Berry, KSAs
Swine flu and flexible hiring
April 27th, 2009 | HR Management | Posted by Gregg Carlstrom
Steve Losey linked to some OPM guidance on swine flu this morning. One other point to make from my reporting… I’ve talked to a few feds today about their swine flu responses, and they keep mentioning the hiring flexibilities that OPM grants during emergency situations: direct hire authority for doctors and nurses, 120-day temporary contracts to fill vacancies if an employee gets sick, etc.
Obviously the disease hasn’t affected federal agencies yet, and nobody’s sure if it will, but it’s worth being prepared.