[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 47 (Friday, March 8, 1996)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 9321-9323]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-5476]



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 Rules and Regulations
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  Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 47 /  Friday, March 8, 1996 / Rules 
and Regulations  

[[Page 9321]]


OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

5 CFR Part 315

RIN 3206-AG81


Career and Career-Conditional Employment, Noncompetitive 
Appointment of Certain Former Overseas Employees

AGENCY: Office of Personnel Management.

ACTION: Final regulations.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is revising its 
regulations implementing Executive Order 12721 under which Federal 
agencies can noncompetitively appoint certain former overseas employees 
who as family members accompanied their sponsors on official assignment 
overseas. These regulations add a new condition justifying the waiver 
of a portion of the overseas service requirement. The regulations also 
remove duplication and add clarifying information.

EFFECTIVE DATE: April 8, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Ellen Russell on 202-606-0830, FAX 202-606-2329, or TDD 202-606-0023.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August 23, 1995 (60 FR 47324) OPM 
published proposed regulations to make it easier for family members of 
U.S. Government personnel stationed abroad to get career Federal jobs 
when they are brought back to the United States because of military 
downsizing and other management-initiated actions. Rather than penalize 
family members who are returned to the States before they had worked 
the full 52 weeks required for noncompetitive appointment, the 
regulation delegates to agencies the authority to waive up to 26 weeks 
of service in nonpersonal situations that necessitate the relocation of 
family members out of the overseas area. Under the final regulation, to 
waive up to 26 weeks of the 52-week overseas service requirement, the 
employing agency overseas must certify that the family member was 
forced to return to the United States because of military drawdowns or 
other management-initiated decisions not personal to the individual and 
must include the number of weeks waived.
    Other reasons for waiving up to 26 weeks of the 52-week service 
requirement remain the same, i.e., an emergency situation which 
necessitated the family member's relocation to the United States. An 
emergency situation includes conflict, terrorism, or the threat of 
terrorism but does not include a personal situation such as ill health.
    We received comments from three Federal agencies and one 
individual. The Department of Defense (DOD) made two major suggestions. 
First, DOD suggested a change in how an individual's 3-year period of 
eligibility could be extended when he or she was stationed in an area 
of the United States with no significant opportunities for Federal 
employment. DOD suggested the determination be made by the major 
Federal employer in the area where the applicant last resided.
    We have not adopted this suggestion but instead have modified the 
regulation to allow any agency to make the determination in order to 
provide the most flexibility. This means that an individual leaving an 
area with no significant Federal employment opportunities could get 
verification from the major Federal employers in the area and attach 
this statement to his or her application for noncompetitive 
appointment.
    Alternatively, an agency considering an application for 
noncompetitive appointment could contact Federal agencies in the area 
where the applicant was last stationed to verify an individual's claim 
that he or she was stationed in an area with no significant Federal 
employment opportunities. This flexibility allows agencies to set up 
whatever special procedures they deem necessary as part of the special 
assistance provided to family members.
    DOD also suggested the regulations add a 2-year ``open period'' so 
that individuals who, prior to the issuance of these regulations, 
returned to the United States before earning the necessary 52 weeks of 
service would be on an equal footing with family members who are 
eligible as soon as these final regulations are effective. We agree 
that the intent of the Executive order is to help as many family 
members as possible and therefore have added such a provision. Under 
the final regulation, individuals will be eligible for appointment for 
3 years following their return to the United States or until March 31, 
1998, whichever is later.
    This provision is consistent with an approach OPM took in final 
regulations published on April 3, 1991 (56 FR 13575). Those regulations 
implemented a revision in Executive Order 12721 that reduced the amount 
of necessary overseas service from 18 months to 52 weeks. The 1991 
regulation included a 3-year open period to provide equity to family 
members whose eligibility had already expired but who would have been 
eligible under the terms of the revised Executive order.
    The Department of the Army suggested the regulation include certain 
provisions that had been in the former Federal Personnel Manual, 
specifically that overseas service need not be continuous, that an 
eligible need not be a family member at the time of noncompetitive 
appointment in the United States, and the eligibles may be appointed in 
any occupation and grade level for which they qualify. The final 
regulation reflects these comments.
    Another Federal agency noted an error in the 5 CFR 
315.608(d)(4)(iv) appointing authority. We have corrected the authority 
to read ``Public Law 86-36 (50 U.S.C. 402, note)''.
    The individual suggested we expand the definition of the ``United 
States'' to include American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern 
Mariana Islands. This change would allow family members to use their 
noncompetitive appointment eligibility in these two locations.
    We have not adopted this suggestion because Executive Order 12721 
states that eligible individuals may be appointed noncompetitively to a 
competitive service position in the executive branch ``within the 
United States (including Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands).'' 
Since the order itself is so specific on where family members can use 
their eligibility, we do not believe OPM's regulations could add 
additional geographic areas to the definition of the ``United States.''

[[Page 9322]]


Regulatory Flexibility Act

    I certify that these regulations will not have a significant 
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities because the 
regulation pertains only to Federal employees and agencies.

List of Subjects in 5 CFR Part 315

    Government employees.

U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
James B. King,
Director.

    Accordingly, OPM is amending part 315 of title 5, Code of Federal 
Regulations, as follows:

PART 315--CAREER AND CAREER-CONDITIONAL APPOINTMENT

    1. The authority citation for part 315 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 5 U.S.C. 1302, 3301, 3302; E.O. 10577, 3 CFR, 1954-
1958 Comp., page 218, unless otherwise noted.

    Secs. 315.601 and 315.609 also issued under 22 U.S.C. 3651 and 
3652.
    Secs. 315.602 and 315.604 also issued under 5 U.S.C. 1104.
    Sec. 315.603 also issued under 5 U.S.C. 8151.
    Sec. 315.605 also issued under E.O. 12034, 3 CFR, 1978 Comp., p. 
111.
    Sec. 315.606 also issued under E.O. 11219, 3 CFR, 1964-1965 
Comp., p. 303.
    Sec. 315.607 also issued under 22 U.S.C. 2506.
    Sec. 315.608 also issued under E.O. 12721, 3 CFR, 1990 Comp., p. 
293.
    Sec. 315.610 also issued under 5 U.S.C. 3304(d).
    Sec. 315.710 also issued under E.O. 12596, 3 CFR, 1987 Comp., p. 
229.
    Subpart I also issued under 5 U.S.C. 3321, E.O. 12107, 3 CFR, 
1978 Comp., p. 264.

    2. Section 315.608 is revised to read as follows:


Sec. 315.608  Noncompetitive appointment of certain former overseas 
employees.

    (a) Authority. An executive branch agency may noncompetitively 
appoint, to a competitive service position within the United States 
(including Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands), an individual 
who has completed 52 weeks of creditable overseas service as defined in 
paragraph (b) of this section and is appointed within the time limits 
in paragraph (d) of this section. Any law, Executive order, or 
regulation that disqualifies an applicant for appointment in the 
competitive service, such as the citizenship requirement, also 
disqualifies the applicant for appointment under this section. An 
individual may be appointed to any occupation and grade level for which 
qualified. An agency may waive any requirement for a written test after 
determining that the duties and responsibilities of the applicant's 
overseas position were similar enough to make the written test 
unnecessary.
    (1) Tenure. A person appointed under this section becomes a career-
conditional employee unless he or she has already satisfied the 
requirements for career tenure or is exempt from the service 
requirement in 5 CFR 315.201.
    (2) Competitive status. A person appointed under this section 
acquires competitive status automatically upon completion of probation.
    (b) Creditable overseas service. For purposes of this section only, 
creditable service is service in an appropriated fund position(s) 
performed by a family member under a local hire appointment(s) overseas 
during the time the family member was accompanying a sponsor officially 
assigned to an overseas area and for which the family member received a 
fully successful or better (or equivalent) performance rating. 
Creditable overseas service is computed in accordance with the 
procedures in the OPM Guide to Processing Personnel Actions. Creditable 
service may have been under more than one appointment and need not be 
continuous. Leave without pay taken during the time an individual is in 
the overseas area is credited on the same basis as time worked.
    (c) Service waiver. Up to 26 weeks of the 52-week service 
requirement is waived when the head of an agency (or designee) that 
employed the family member overseas certifies that the family member's 
expected 52 weeks of employment were cut short because of a nonpersonal 
situation that necessitated the relocation of the family member from 
the overseas area. The certification must include the number of weeks 
waived. For this purpose, a nonpersonal situation includes disaster, 
conflict, terrorism or the threat of terrorism, and those situations 
when a family member is forced to return to the United States because 
of military deployment, drawdowns, or other management-initiated 
actions. A nonpersonal situation does not include circumstances that 
specifically relate to a particular individual, for example, ill health 
or personal interest in relocating.
    (d) Time limit on eligibility. An individual is eligible for 
appointment(s) under this authority for a period of 3 years following 
the date of returning from overseas to the United States to resume 
residence or until March 31, 1998, whichever date is later. An agency 
may extend an individual's appointment eligibility beyond 3 years for 
periods equivalent to--
    (1) The time the individual was accompanying a sponsor on official 
assignment to an area of the United States with no significant 
opportunities for Federal employment; or
    (2) The time an individual was incapacitated for employment.
    (e) Definitions. In this section terms have the following meaning:
    (1) Family member. An unmarried child under age 23 or a spouse. An 
individual must have been a family member at the time he or she met the 
overseas service requirement and other conditions but does not need to 
be a family member at the time of noncompetitive appointment in the 
United States.
    (2) Sponsor. A Federal civilian employee, a Federal nonappropriated 
fund employee, or a member of a uniformed service who is officially 
assigned to an overseas area.
    (i) Officially assigned. Under active orders issued by the United 
States Government.
    (ii) Federal civilian employee. An employee of the executive, 
judicial, or legislative branch of the United States Government who 
serves in an appropriated fund position.
    (iii) Nonappropriated fund employee. An employee paid from 
nonappropriated funds of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, Navy 
Ship's Stores Ashore, Navy Exchanges, Marine Corps Exchanges, Coast 
Guard Exchanges, or other instrumentalities of the United States.
    (iv) Member of a uniformed service. Personnel of the U.S. Armed 
Forces (including the Coast Guard), the commissioned corps of the 
Public Health Service, and the commissioned corps of the National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
    (3) Accompanying. The family member resided in the overseas area 
while the sponsor was officially assigned to an overseas post of duty. 
The family member need not have physically resided with the sponsor at 
all times or have traveled with the sponsor to or from the overseas 
area.
    (4) Local hire appointment. An appointment that is not actually or 
potentially permanent and that is made from among individuals residing 
in the overseas area. In this section only, a local hire appointment 
includes nonpermanent employment under:
    (i) Overseas limited appointment under 5 CFR 301.203(b) or (c);
    (ii) Expected appointment under Schedule A 213.3106(b)(1), 
213.3106(b)(6), or 213.3106(d)(1)) when the duration of the appointment 
is tied to the sponsor's rotation date or when the appointment is made 
on a not-to-exceed (NTE) basis;

[[Page 9323]]

    (iii) An ``American family member'' or ``part-time intermittent 
temporary (PIT)'' appointment in U.S. diplomatic establishments;
    (iv) 50 U.S.C. 403j; Public Law 86-36 (50 U.S.C. 402, note); the 
Berlin Tariff Agreement; or as a local national employee paid from 
appropriated funds; or
    (v) Any other nonpermanent appointment in the competitive or 
excepted service approved by OPM.
    (5) Overseas. A location outside the 50 States of the United 
States, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin 
Islands.

FR Doc. 96-5476 Filed 3-7-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6325-01-M