{"id":17954,"date":"2017-02-01T09:26:16","date_gmt":"2017-02-01T14:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=17954"},"modified":"2017-02-01T09:26:30","modified_gmt":"2017-02-01T14:26:30","slug":"omb-says-usps-exempt-from-hiring-freeze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2017\/02\/01\/omb-says-usps-exempt-from-hiring-freeze\/","title":{"rendered":"OMB Says USPS Exempt From Hiring Freeze"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tuesday, January 31, 2017<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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M-17-18<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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From:<\/div>\n
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MARK SANDY, ACTING DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET<\/div>\n
KATHLEEN McGETTIGAN, ACTING DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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1. \u00a0Purpose.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0This memorandum provides additional guidance regarding the freeze on the hiring of Federal civilian employees as directed by the President on January 23, 2017, via Presidential Memorandum (PM) entitled \u201cHiring Freeze<\/a>.\u201d \u00a0This guidance is in addition to the initial\u00a0<\/span>implementation guidance<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>issued by the Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on January 25, 2017. \u00a0This guidance provides information on the types of exemptions authorized under this hiring freeze as well as instructions on how departments and agencies can request exemptions from the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for critical situations where additional exemptions may be warranted.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0Coverage.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0This memorandum applies to all Executive departments and agencies regardless of the sources of their operational and programmatic funding and to all types of Federal civilian appointments, regardless of the length of the appointment, except as provided for below or otherwise provided in law. \u00a0No vacant positions existing at noon on January 22, 2017, may be filled and no new positions may be created, except in limited circumstances. \u00a0For the purposes of this memorandum, a position is not considered vacant if an individual has been given an offer of employment prior to noon on \u00a0January 22, 2017, has accepted the position, and has a designated start date on or before February 22, 2017.<\/p>\n

Contracting outside the Government to circumvent the intent of the PM shall not be permitted. \u00a0For example, agencies shall not acquire by contract with a commercial vendor services that are substantially similar to those that would have been provided by a Federal civilian in a vacancy covered by the PM. \u00a0However, nothing in this memorandum is intended to restrict agencies from continuing, modifying, or entering into service contracts for other purposes, consistent with law, regulation, and any applicable management direction.<\/p>\n

The guidance in this memorandum should be implemented consistent with any lawful collective bargaining obligations that may apply.<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0Exemptions.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0The following exemptions to the Federal civilian hiring freeze are permitted:<\/strong><\/p>\n

a. \u00a0Military personnel in the armed forces and all Federal uniformed personnel, including the U.S. Coast Guard, the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, and the Commissioned Officer Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.<\/p>\n

b. \u00a0Filling of positions under programs where limiting the hiring of personnel would conflict with applicable law.<\/p>\n

c. \u00a0Nomination and appointment of officials to positions requiring Presidential appointment, with or without Senate confirmation.<\/p>\n

d. \u00a0Appointment of officials to non-career positions in the Senior Executive Service (SES) or to Schedule C appointments in the Excepted Service, or the appointment of any other officials who serve at the pleasure of the appointing authority (i.e., \u201cappointed\u201d positions of a political\/non-career nature).<\/p>\n

e. \u00a0Appointment of seasonal employees and short-term temporary employees necessary to meet traditionally recurring seasonal workloads, provided that the agency informs its OMB Resource Management Office in writing in advance of its hiring plans.<\/p>\n

f. \u00a0Hiring by the U.S. Postal Service.<\/strong><\/p>\n

g. \u00a0Federal civilian personnel hires made by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).<\/p>\n

h. \u00a0Appointments made under the Pathways Internship and Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Programs (this does not include the Recent Graduates Program). \u00a0Agencies should ensure that such hires understand the provisional nature of these appointments and that conversion is not guaranteed.<\/p>\n

i. \u00a0Conversions in the ordinary course to the competitive service of current agency employees serving in positions with conversion authority, such as Veteran\u2019s Recruitment Act (VRA) and Pathways Programs.<\/p>\n

j. \u00a0Appointments made under 5 C.F.R. \u00a7 213.3102(r) (time limited positions in support of fellowship or professional\/industry exchange programs) provided that the total number of individuals employed under this authority does not exceed the number of employees onboard (hired under this authority) on January 22, 2017.<\/p>\n

k. \u00a0Placement of persons with restoration rights accorded by law, such as restoration after absence with injury compensation and restoration after military duty.<\/p>\n

l. \u00a0Job offers made prior to January 22, 2017, for which the individual has a confirmed start date on or before February 22, 2017. \u00a0Those individuals should report to work according to their respective designated start dates.<\/p>\n

m. \u00a0Job offers made prior to January 22, 2017, but for which the individual has a confirmed start date that is later than February 22, 2017 (or does not have a confirmed start date), should be decided on a case-by-case basis and must go through an agency-head review. \u00a0The agency head should review each position to determine whether the job offer should be revoked, or whether the hiring process should continue. \u00a0Agency heads should consider essential mission priorities, current agency resources, and funding levels when making determinations about whether or not to revoke job offers.<\/p>\n

n. \u00a0Internal career ladder promotions.<\/p>\n

o. \u00a0Reallocations (i.e., noncompetitive reassignments and details) of current Federal civilian employees\u00a0<\/span>within an agency\u00a0<\/span>to meet the highest priority needs (including preservation of national security and other essential services) are not affected. Details (reimbursable and non-reimbursable) between agencies are also not affected; however, agency leadership should ensure that any reimbursable details between agencies are not being used to circumvent the intent of the hiring freeze.<\/p>\n

p. \u00a0Term and temporary appointments of existing Federal employees may be extended up to the maximum allowable time limit, consistent with the conditions\/requirements of the legal authority originally used to appoint the employee.<\/p>\n

q. \u00a0A limited number of voluntary transfers of current SES between agencies, as necessary to secure the leadership capacity of agencies, and where needs cannot be met by reallocation of resources within an agency\u2019s current workforce; however, filling of such vacancies is subject to OPM approval in accordance with section 4 below.<\/p>\n

r. \u00a0The head of any agency may exempt any positions that it deems necessary to:<\/p>\n

i. \u00a0Meet national security (including foreign relations) responsibilities, or<\/p>\n

ii. \u00a0Meet public safety responsibilities (including essential activities to the extent that they protect life and property). \u00a0Agencies may refer to longstanding guidance, which provides examples of such activities in OMB Memorandum,\u00a0<\/span>Agency Operations in the Absence of Appropriations<\/em><\/a>, dated 11\/17\/1981 [see examples 3(a) to 3(k)].<\/p>\n

Agency heads should consult with appropriate personnel, including the agency Chief Human Capital Officer (CHCO) or equivalent and agency counsel when determining what positions to exempt from the hiring freeze. \u00a0Agency heads are also required to consult with OPM and the agency\u2019s OMB Resource Management Office on their intent to exempt positions using their agency head authority before implementing these exemptions. \u00a0Note that in the case of an Inspector General\u2019s (IG) office, the Inspector General is considered the agency head for the purposes of determining which positions in the IG office are exempt based on the definitions above, as well as for the purposes of the agency-head review of job offers in the IG office that either do not have a start date or have a designated start date beyond February 22, 2017.<\/p>\n

4. \u00a0Exemptions Granted by the Director of OPM.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0The Director of OPM may grant additional exemptions from the hiring freeze for critical situations. \u00a0Accordingly, if an agency head assesses that circumstances warrant additional exemptions to the hiring freeze other than those specified above, a request must be made in writing to the Director of OPM and signed by the agency head. \u00a0The request must:<\/p>\n