Article 16
Merit Staffing
History

Section 1. Preamble
The purposes and intent of this Article are to ensure that employees are given full and fair consideration for advancement and to ensure selection from among the best-qualified candidates.
The Department and Local 12 also agree to fill positions in the bargaining unit on the basis of merit in accordance with systematic and equitable procedures adopted for this purpose. As a general rule, depending on the requirements of the job to be filled and on the number of highly qualified candidates within the Department, positions will be filled within the Department.
It is further agreed that this Article must be administered in such a way as to develop maximum possible employee confidence and to achieve the purposes of this Article as simply and efficiently as possible.

Section 2. Introduction

a. Statement of Objectives. The statement of objectives and the principles governing merit staffing in Federal Personnel Manual (FPM) Chapter 335 are hereby incorporated into this Article by reference. The parties specifically affirm the goals of maximum utilization of employees, of the necessity of providing incentives for improved performance, and of the need to deal fairly with employees, while avoiding undue delays and unnecessary paperwork.
b. Exceptions to Merit Staffing. Competitive merit staffing procedures apply to all personnel actions, including details to fill positions in the competitive service in the bargaining unit, except as otherwise indicated below.

(1) Appointments Excepted from Competitive Merit Staffing Procedures

(a) Appointments to entrance level positions except transfers and reinstatements to higher grades or to positions with known promotion potential. Appointments of employees from registers to above entrance level grades or to positions with known promotion potential are not excepted.

(b) Temporary appointments not to exceed six (6) months.

(c) Permanent appointment after temporary appointment when originally selected for temporary appointment under merit staffing.
(d) Reemployment of persons exercising reemployment rights whose names were submitted for consideration and who were selected for promotion while absent for military duty or whose positions were reclassified upward during such absence.
(e) Reemployment to former positions when employee is exercising reemployment rights.
(f) Reemployment from the Reduction in Force (RIF) Reemployment Priority List to same or lower grade.
(g) Appointments required by law, regulation, or as a remedy or voluntary settlement reached in connection with a grievance, complaint, or appeal.
(h) Conversion of employee serving under the appointments such as the following when the statutory or regulatory requirements have been fulfilled: Presidential Management Intern; Cooperative Education; Harry S. Truman Scholarship; Federal Junior Fellowship; Schedule B PAC positions; Veterans Readjustment; 30% Disabled; or Worker-Trainee.

(2) Promotions Excepted from Competitive Merit Staffing Procedures

(a) Upgrading as result of classification error or new classification standard.
(b) Reclassification (material modification).
(c) Career ladder promotions.
(d) Promotion of understudy to target position or promotion after assignment to a position at a grade below the estimated or anticipated grade when originally selected as understudy under merit staffing.
(e) Promotion under approved training agreement.
(f) Promotion of detailed employee originally selected for detail under merit staffing.
(g) Repromotion after demotion without personal cause.
(h) Temporary promotions not to exceed ninety (90) days.
(i) Permanent promotion after temporary promotion when originally selected for temporary promotion under merit staffing.
(j) Promotion after failure to receive proper consideration.
(k) Promotion required by law, regulation, or as a remedy or voluntary settlement reached in connection with a grievance, complaint, or appeal.

(3) Other Actions Excepted from Competitive Merit Staffing Procedures

(a) Reassignments provided the reassignment is not to a position of greater known promotion potential.
(b) Reassignments under an approved training agreement to the target position.
(c) Demotions to positions of no greater promotion potential.
(d) Details to positions at the same or lower grade.
(e) Details not to exceed sixty (60) days to higher grade positions or positions with known promotion potential.

Section 3. Definitions

a. Entrance Level Positions. Entrance level positions include all positions in an established career ladder, through the journey level and other positions approved by the Director of Personnel Management for recruitment purposes.
b. Positions with Known Promotion Potential. Positions with known promotion potential include: (1) career-ladder positions below the level of full performance; (2) understudy positions; (3) positions filled at a grade below the established or anticipated grade; and (4) trainee positions.
c. Career Ladder. A career ladder is a series of positions of increasing difficulty in the same line of work through which a group of employees may progress from the entrance levels to the first level of full performance. They are all given grade-building experience and are promoted as they demonstrate ability to perform at the next higher level.
d. Full Performance Level. The grade level in an occupational career ladder to which all employees in an organization may be promoted noncompetitively as they demonstrate ability to perform at that level.
e. Trainee Position. A trainee position is one involving a well-defined training program (which may include both on-the-job and classroom training) of a definite duration, and the performance of assigned tasks on a rotating or nonrotating basis under close guidance and instruction with promotion scheduled upon satisfactory completion of the training period.
f. Understudy. An understudy is an employee selected for the purpose of being trained to assume the duties of a position scheduled to be vacated in a definite period of time, normally one (1) year or less.
g. Detail. A detail is the temporary assignment of an employee to a different position for a specified period, with the understanding that the employee will be returning to his/her regular duties at the end of the detail.
h. Agencies. Agencies shall be defined as including:
- Office of the Secretary
- Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
- Employment Standards Administration (ESA)
- Employment and Training Administration
(ETA)
- Mine Safety and Health Administration
(MSHA)
- Office of the Assistant Secretary for
Administration and Management
(OASAM)
- Office of Labor-Management Standards
(OLMS)
- Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA)
- Office of the Solicitor (OSOL)
- Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration (PWBA)
- President's Committee on Employment of
People with Disabilities (PCEPD)
The Office of the Secretary includes:
- Immediate Office of the Secretary
- Immediate Office of the Deputy Secretary
- Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy
(ASP)
- Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB)
- Bureau of Labor-Management Relations and
Cooperative Programs (BLMRCP)
- Benefits Review Board (BRB)
- DOL Academy
- Employees' Compensation Appeals Board
(ECAB)
- Executive Secretariat
- Office of Administrative Appeals (OAA)
- Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ)
- Office of Congressional and
Intergovernmental Affairs (OCIA)
- Office of Public Affairs (OPA)
- Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business
Utilization (OSDBU)
- Veterans' Employment and Training Service
(VETS)
- Wage Appeals Board (WAB)
- Women's Bureau
- Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO)
If changes in the organizations listed alter the areas of advertising established in Section 4, the parties will meet to consider redefining the areas of advertising.
i. Advertising. Advertising is the timely posting of vacancy announcements on appropriately placed bulletin boards, or the circularizing of special issuances to employees with sufficient notice to allow qualified employees within the area of advertising to learn of the vacancy and to apply for it.

Section 4. Locating Candidates and Publicizing Vacancies

Departmental candidates shall be located through advertising. No position in the bargaining unit, except those specifically excepted herein from merit staffing competition, will be filled except as a result of the advertising for the particular vacancy or vacancies. In addition to applying for advertised vacancies, any employee may make advance application by applying as described in Subsection c. of this Section.
Agencies will secure appropriate consideration for employees in the area of consideration who are absent for legitimate reasons, e.g., on detail, on leave, at training centers, on Intergovernmental Personnel Assignments, in the military service, or for service in public international organizations.

a. Local 12 and Employee Copies of Advertised Vacancies. Copies of all advertised vacancies shall be furnished to Local 12. A copy of any DOL vacancy announcement for the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area requested will be furnished to employees.
b. Area of Advertising. The area of advertising for positions within the bargaining unit, as a minimum, will be as described below:

(1) For positions at GS-14 and GS-15, Department-wide advertising throughout the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, except where such advertising would produce too few candidates, in which event advertising shall be Department-wide throughout the Nation.
(2) For nonclerical positions at GS-13 and below, advertising shall be Department-wide throughout the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, except where such advertising would produce too many candidates, in which event advertising shall be within the Agency.
(3) For clerical positions, the minimum area of consideration shall be the next lower organizational level in the DOL Agency in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, except in OLMS, PWBA, and SOL. In these organizations, the minimum area of consideration shall be DOL Agency-wide in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

c. Advance Application. Employees who have made advance application will be considered along with employees who respond to the advertisement. Employees may submit applications in advance for any specified occupational group and grade. These may be sent to the Agency in which the employee wishes to be considered. Such applications will remain active for one (1) year from the date eligibility is determined.
d. Extending the Search. The minimum area of advertising will be extended to the extent practicable, when the minimum area is unlikely to or fails to produce at least three (3) highly qualified candidates and further advertising is likely to produce additional highly qualified candidates.
e. Vacancy Announcement. Vacancy announcement DL Form 1-391 shall be used in advertising and shall include the following information about the position to be filled:

(1) Title and grade.
(2) Geographic and organizational location.
(3) Summary statement of duties.
(4) Qualifications (including any special qualification requirements).
(5) Relative importance of the essential knowledges, skills, and abilities.
(6) Where additional information may be secured.
(7) Where applications and required forms should be sent.
(8) Issue and closing date (vacancy announcements shall be open a minimum of ten (10) calendar days).
(9) If the position to be filled is one with known promotion potential, this shall be explained in the announcement.
(10) Percent of travel required, if ten (10) percent or more.

f. Announcement of Entrance Level Position. Announcement of entrance level positions and those for which sustained recruitment outside the Department is the practice, shall be issued or posted periodically.
g. Open Announcements. At the option of Management, announcements may be issued to be open for up to one (1) year for positions for which it appears there will be a number of vacancies over a period of time.

Section 5. Determining Basic Eligibility

Each employee who files an application shall be given prompt notice in writing by the appropriate Personnel Office as to whether or not he/she meets the qualification requirements for the position.

a. Any qualification required in addition to mandatory Office of Personnel Management (OPM) standards must be approved by the Department's Director of Personnel Management and included in the announcement. Such additional requirements must be essential to the proper performance of the duties of the position and shall be documented, with Local 12 being so advised. Additional qualifications concerning sex or physical condition will be approved only when required by the actual duties and working conditions of the position under requirements established by OPM. Changes in basic qualification standards shall be available to employees for their inspection upon request. No candidate may be eliminated from consideration on the basis of an additional standard not specified in the announcement or listing.
b. All outside and employee candidates shall be rated against the same standards without prejudicial regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, politics, marital status, disability, age, or membership or nonmembership in an employee organization. Sex or physical condition will be a factor in determining eligibility only as specified in Subsection a. above.
c. Outside candidates in merit staffing actions will be evaluated on the basis of an appraisal of current job performance.
d. Written tests may not be used on a pass-fail basis in determining basic eligibility unless OPM requires that an employee must pass the written test for in-service placement. If a written test is to be used, this fact must be included in the vacancy announcement.
e. An employee's present classification, per se, shall not be cause for disqualification from any vacancy in a higher level position in a different series if the employee otherwise meets the requirements for such vacancy.

Section 6. Grouping of Candidates

a. General. Candidates shall be evaluated by qualification rating examiners or merit staffing panels. Standard application forms SF-171 or DL Form 1-231, and the annual rating of record will be used for this purpose. The use of Official Personnel Folders will be minimized.
If ten (10) or fewer applicants meet basic eligibility requirements and they are all DOL employees, they need not be rated. All may be referred on a certificate to the selecting official.
b. Evaluation by Qualification Rating Examiners

(1) Qualification rating examiners may be used to evaluate candidates for clerical positions and for certain specified groups of nonclerical positions. Rating examiners shall be designated by the Director of Personnel Management on the basis of their expertise in the occupational field where such vacancies exist, or be skilled in the evaluation of experience, education, and training.
(2) The qualification rating examiner may not be the immediate supervisor of the position to be filled.
(3) The Department will advise Local 12 in advance of groups of nonclerical positions to be serviced by qualification rating examiners, together with the reasons therefore, and the names of persons appointed as examiners.

c. Evaluation by Merit Staffing Panels. There shall be lists maintained at the Agency level of skilled and impartial persons from whose ranks rating panels shall be constituted. Local 12 will be consulted in the naming of individuals to be placed on the list. Panel members will receive training following their appointment and will be given copies of this Article. Persons who serve on panels must be either expert in the occupational field of the vacancy and at a grade level equal to or above the vacancy, or skilled in the evaluation of experience, education, and training at the level of the vacancy.

(1) Normally panels shall consist of two (2) members. If the two cannot agree on a rating, a third member will be selected and the decision on a rating may be reached by a simple majority.
(2) The supervisor of a vacant position may not serve on the panel for that position. No one from the unit under the supervision of the immediate supervisor of the vacancy to be filled may serve on the panel, except in an Agency where there are insufficient qualified panel members available. No supervisor or other employee shall in any way attempt to influence qualification rating examiners or members of merit staffing panels in the carrying out of their responsibilities.

d. Procedures to be Used by Raters

(1) Evaluations are to be made without prejudicial regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, politics, marital status, disability, age, or membership or nonmembership in an employee organization.
(2) The panel or qualification rating examiners will confine themselves to the factors and their relative importance as contained in the vacancy announcement. Evaluation factors and their relative importance shall be applied uniformly to all candidates and made a matter of record. The summary evaluation for each candidate must be consistent with the factor evaluation.
(3) Evaluations may be made jointly by the panel or individually by the members. If the latter method is used, the panel will prepare a composite rating from their individual ratings. The method used must be preserved. Any questions directed by a panel to a selecting officer, and his/her reply, shall be in writing and made part of the record.

e. Employees and Outside Candidates. Evaluation of all candidates, both employees and outsiders, will be based on a review of each individual's total background to determine the extent to which each meets the following criteria:

(1) The best combination of education and experience required for the specific job to be filled;
(2) Work traits--such as the ability to work with others, to exert leadership, or to supervise--to the extent they are required by the specific job to be filled;
(3) Past and present job performance as related to the requirements of the job to be filled; and
(4) Length of service in the grade below that of the job to be filled, or in a higher grade, to the extent that such service is related to the current requirements of the specific job to be filled.

Section 7. Certification and Selection

a. Certification

(1) If ten (10) or fewer applicants meet basic eligibility requirements and they are all DOL employees, they need not be rated. All may be referred on a certificate to the selecting official.
(2) If more than ten (10) DOL employees or more than ten (10) DOL employees and/or outside DOL applicants meet basic eligibility requirements, the evaluation panel or qualification rating examiner, as the case may be, shall group the candidates as to whether they are Highly Qualified (HQ) or Qualified (Q).
(3) If there are more than ten (10) candidates rated HQ, the ten (10) best shall be certified by making further meaningful distinctions.
(4) If there are less than ten (10) candidates rated HQ, the best of the candidates rated Q shall be added to the certificate to make a certificate of up to ten (10). If there are more than enough candidates rated Q to make a certificate of ten (10), the best qualified shall be certified by making further meaningful distinctions.
(5) One (1) additional candidate may be added to the certificate for each additional vacancy to be filled from the certificate. When such additional candidates are added, a certificate for multiple vacancies will be invalid for selection of numbers less than those for which the certificate was issued.
(6) The qualification information on each certified candidate considered by the raters shall be forwarded to the selecting official for use in making the selection.
(7) At the same time the certificate is sent to the selecting official, a copy will be furnished to Local 12.

b. Selection

The selecting official is entitled to make his/her selection only from the candidates on the certificate based on his/her judgment of how well the candidate will perform in the particular job being filled. However, no selection shall be made unless and until the selecting official has interviewed all available candidates on the certificate who are within the unit. Unless circumstances prevent the filling of the vacancy, the selecting official is expected to make his/her selection within a reasonable time following receipt of the certificate.

c. Validity of Certificates

(1) Certificates are valid until a selection(s) or other decision has been made. If a selectee declines or vacates the position within sixty (60) calendar days of the initial selection, the list of eligibles may be used again to draw up a selection certificate.
(2) Actions under a promotion plan, whether in identification, qualification, evaluation, or selection of candidates or any other phase of the promotion process, shall be made without regard to political, religious, or labor organization affiliation or non-affiliation, marital status, race, color, sex, national origin, disability, or age, and shall not be based on any criteria that are not job-related, including favoritism based on personal relationship, patronage, or nepotism.
(3) When requested under Section 10 of this Article, the selecting official shall explain his/her choice in writing on the basis of any one (1) or a combination of the following factors.

(a) The best combination of education and experience required for the specific job to be filled.
(b) Work traits--such as the ability to work with others, to exert leadership, or to supervise--to the extent they are required by the specific job to be filled.
(c) Past and present job performance as related to the requirements of the job to be filled.
(d) Length of service in the grade below that of the job to be filled, or in a higher grade, to the extent that such service is related to the current requirements of the specific job to be filled.

(4) All competitive selections made in the bargaining unit shall be listed at the same locations at which such vacancies are advertised. Copies of such lists shall be sent to Local 12.

Section 8. Selection for Details

a. Details to Higher Grade Positions or to Positions with Known Promotional Potential. A detail of more than sixty (60) calendar days to a higher grade position or to a position with known promotion potential shall be made under competitive promotion procedures. This requirement is not to be circumvented by a series of temporary assignments. For example, competitive promotion procedure must be used if, after completing the detail, the employee will have spent more than sixty (60) calendar days (prior service under both previous details and temporary promotions included) in higher grade positions or in positions with known promotion potential during a 12-month period.
b. Records of Details. Details in excess of thirty (30) calendar days will be documented by the use of an SF-50 and will be maintained as a permanent record in the Official Personnel Folders.
An automated listing of details shall be provided for review to a designated Union representative by the Agency. Such review shall not occur more frequently than once every six (6) months.
c. Detail of Union Officials. In the event that a Union official is to be detailed away from the normal work site, the Management official ordering the detail shall consult with the affected Union official before the detail is effected.

Section 9. Career Ladder Promotion Process

a. Definition. A career ladder is a series of positions of increasing difficulty in the same line of work through which a group of employees may progress from the entrance levels to the first level of full performance. They are all given grade-building experience and are promoted as they demonstrate ability to perform at the next higher level.
b. Identification of grade-building assignments. When the performance management plan (elements and standards) is prepared and discussed with the employee at the beginning of the appraisal period, the supervisor will discuss the type of grade-building assignments that will be assigned to the employee during the appraisal year, as well as what the supervisor expects concerning the employee's performance in order to be promoted to the next grade level.
c. During the appraisal year, the supervisor will identify those assignments that are grade-building, as well as what is expected on those assignments if it is known at that time.
d. During the annual progress review on performance required in Article 12, or at the time of the employee's annual rating of record, the supervisor will advise the employee on: (1) how the employee has performed on these grade-building assignments; (2) if performance is sufficient for promotion to the next grade level; and (3) when the employee can expect to be promoted if current performance continues.

Section 10. Review of Merit Staffing Actions

a. Notification

(1) Each employee will automatically be notified in writing by the appropriate Personnel Office as to whether he/she is qualified or not qualified for a vacancy for which he/she applied.
(2) The Agency Personnel Office will, upon request, advise the employee or his/her designated representative of the rating group the employee was placed in for any position in the Agency for which the employee was considered. Such a request may be made any time after a vacancy in the bargaining unit has been advertised but prior to the announcement of the selection. The employee or his/her representative will be given the requested information within two (2) workdays after the evaluation has been made.

b. Review and Explanation

(1) Within ten (10) workdays after an employee who is a candidate has been notified of his/her nonplacement on the certificate, he/she or the designated representative may request a review and an explanation of nonplacement on the certificate. Such requests may be made orally to the appropriate Personnel Office, or in writing through the Personnel Office to the head of the Agency in which the vacancy occurred. This letter shall explain briefly why the employee wishes the review to be made. When such request is made, the employee or designated representative will be given an explanation of the action within ten (10) workdays. This explanation shall be in writing, if the employee requests it.
(2) If a vacancy cannot be filled for any reason, once a list of candidates has been certified for the vacancy, the Agency will give an employee who has made inquiry under this Section or his/her designated representative the reason why the position cannot now be filled.
(3) A merit staffing vacancy announcement shall not be cancelled for the purpose of avoiding conformance with the merit staffing plan or this Agreement.
(4) Upon request, the operating Personnel Office will advise Local 12 of the official with authority for a specific personnel action.

c. Union Review

(1) Where it is alleged that a violation of the merit staffing Article has occurred, designated Local 12 stewards shall notify the appropriate Management representative that preliminary examination of the record is being requested. Such a request need not specify the name of the individual or individuals directly involved, but must specify the announcement number and the type of records being requested. The designated steward, in the presence of an appropriate Management representative, shall be given access to the complete record of the particular action.
(2) At the initiative of Management or Local 12, specific merit staffing actions may be questioned or reviewed at an Agency Labor-Management Relations Committee (ALMRC) meeting. The Local 12 representatives shall be given access to the complete record of the actions. In addition, the representatives may secure through the head of the Agency a written explanation by the selecting official of his/her selections as required in Section 7.c.(3). While specific merit staffing actions may be reviewed at the Agency level, they will not be considered at the Departmental level, except as necessary to point up broader problems which either party is presenting.
(3) Where it is alleged that a violation of this merit staffing Article has occurred, but there is disagreement as to the facts of the case, not resolved under (1) above, either party may request that the matter be investigated by a member of the staff of the Directorate of Personnel Management. It is understood that such review shall be carried out by a member of that staff who is familiar with merit staffing and whose name had previously been submitted to Local 12. Such request for review shall be attended to promptly. A report, either orally or in writing, shall be made available to each of the parties at the same time, and may contain recommendations as well as findings of fact.

d. Remedies

(1) A merit staffing action which is made the subject of a grievance by an employee may be stayed, subject to the provisions and procedures stated in Article 43, Section 13 of this Agreement.
(2) Grievances which allege violation of the merit staffing Article shall be processed in accordance with Article 43 of this Agreement.
(3) Where it has been established that a merit staffing violation has occurred, the objective of the corrective action for the affected employee shall be to overcome the violation in every equitable and legal way.
(4) There will be regularly scheduled Departmental reviews of Agency personnel actions taken under this Article. A representative nominated by Local 12 will participate in each such review to determine if the purposes and intent of this Article are being fulfilled. The Local 12 representative will be detailed to OASAM for the period of the review.

Section 11. General

a. This Article is applicable to all personnel actions filling competitive positions in the Local 12 bargaining unit subject to the categories of exceptions stated in Section 2.b. of this Article. Changes in these categories of exceptions, as applicable in the bargaining unit, are subject to negotiation between the parties. Employees will be kept informed of the current categories of exceptions.
b. This Article shall be interpreted in accordance with Departmental and OPM regulations. Nothing in this Article shall in any way abridge the rights of the individual employee under such regulations. Specifically, the employee's right to file a complaint under the Department's merit staffing regulations is in no way limited by this Article.

Section 12. Informing Employees About Opportunities for Entrance Level Positions

The Department's Directorate of Personnel Management will inform employees in the unit at least twice a year through a Spotlight or other issuance of the jobs, including qualification requirements, that are likely to be filled at the entrance levels of career ladders during the year. Employees may make advance application for the positions in which they are interested and for which they are qualified. It will continue to be optional with Agencies whether entrance level positions are filled through merit staffing competition or from appointment registers under the current exception to merit staffing competition. However, Agencies must assure that qualified employees who have indicated an interest in such entrance level positions are given fair consideration for such positions during the year, as opportunities materialize.

Section 13. Personnel Records

a. Employees may examine their entire personnel file, except for such documents which OPM regulations require not be shown to employees. Such documents are not to be made available to the rating examiner or panel.
b. No derogatory documents shall be placed in an employee's Official Personnel Folder unless the employee has had an opportunity to review the document beforehand, except that documents that are required by law, rule, or regulation to be kept confidential and filed in the personnel folder may not be seen by the employee.