5 C.F.R. Subpart G—Job Grading Reviews and Appeals
Title 5 - Administrative Personnel
Title 5: Administrative Personnel
PART 532—PREVAILING RATE SYSTEMS
Subpart G—Job Grading Reviews and Appeals
§ 532.701 General.
A prevailing rate employee may at any time appeal the occupational series, grade, or title to which the employee's job is assigned, but may not appeal under this subpart the standards established for the job, nor other matters such as the accuracy of the job description, the rate of pay, or the propriety of a wage schedule rate. The filing of a job-grading appeal does not negate any other appeal or grievance rights which may be available under applicable law, rule, regulation, or negotiated agreement.
[51 FR 18561, May 21, 1986]
§ 532.703 Agency review.
(a) Each agency shall establish a system processing an employee's application for review of the correctness of the series, grade or title of the employee's job.
Note: Application for review will be hereafter referred to as an “application”.
(b) In establishing the system required by this subpart, an agency, as a minimum, shall provide that the following requisites be met.
(1) The provisions of the system shall be published and the agency's employees shall be informed where a published copy is available for review.
(2) An application shall be in writing and contain the reasons the employee believes the position is erroneously graded.
(3) An application may be filed at any time. However, when the application involves a downgrading or other job-grading action which resulted in a reduction in grade or loss or pay, in order to be entitled to retroactive corrective action, an employee must request a review under the provisions of this subpart within 15 calendar days of the effective date of the change to lower grade.
(4) An employee may select a representative, and the employee and the representative, when the representative is also employed by the same agency, shall be granted a reasonable time in presenting the application and shall be assured freedom from restraint, interference, coercion, or reprisal in presenting the application.
(5) An employee shall promptly furnish such facts as may be requested by the agency.
(6) An application shall be canceled and the employee so notified in the following circumstances:
(i) On receipt of a written request by the employee;
(ii) Failure of the employee to furnish required information or otherwise fail to proceed with the advancement of his application in a timely manner; however, instead of cancellation for failure by the employee to prosecute, the application may be adjudicated by the agency if the information is sufficient for that purpose; or
(iii) On notice that the employee has left the job, except when the employee would be entitled to the retroactive benefits including benefits allowable after the death of an employee appellant.
(7) The application shall be processed and decided promptly. No more than one level of review may be established within an agency before a final decision is issued, and that level of review, when possible, must be above the level of classification authority which classified the position.
(8) When an employee applies for a review of a downgrading or other job-grading action that resulted in a reduction of pay, and the decision of an agency reverses in whole or in part the downgrading or other job-grading action, the effective date of that decision shall be retroactive to the effective date of the action being reviewed when the initial application to the agency was submitted in accordance with paragraph (b)(3) of this section. However, when the agency decision raises the grade or level of the job above its grade or level immediately preceding the downgrading, retroactivity shall apply only to the extent of restoration to the grade or level immediately preceding the downgrading.
(9) The right to a retroactive effective date is preserved when an agency finds that an employee was not notified of the applicable time limit for review and was not otherwise aware of the limit or that circumstances beyond the employee's control prevented filing the application within the prescribed time limit.
(10) The effective date of a change in the series, title or grade of a job shall be specified in the agency decision and, unless otherwise required by this subpart, may not be earlier than the date of the decision. However, in no case may it be later than the beginning of the first pay period which begins after the 60th calendar day from the date the application was filed. However, when the agency decision will result in a downgrading or other job-grading action that will reduce the pay of the incumbent of the job, the effective date may not be set earlier than the date on which the decision can be effected in accordance with procedures required by applicable law and regulation. The retroactive reclassification may be based only on duties and responsibilities existing at the time of downgrading or loss of pay and not on duties and responsibilities later assigned.
(11) When an application has been properly filed and the employee dies before the application has been processed, if a favorable decision would entitle the employee to retroactive corrective action, the application will be processed to completion after the employee's death and any appropriate corrective action made by amending the records of the agency.
(12) The decision on an application shall:
(i) Be based on the record,
(ii) Be in writing,
(iii) Inform the employee either in the decision or as an attachment to the decision of the reasons for the decision, including an analysis of the employee's job, i.e., comparing the job with the appropriate standard, and
(iv) Inform the employee of the right to appeal the decision to the Office of Personnel Management and of the time limits within which the application must be filed.
(c) The agency is responsible for compiling and maintaining a job-grading review file which will constitute the record and which will not contain any document or information which the employee has not been given an opportunity to review.
[46 FR 21344, Apr. 10, 1981, as amended at 51 FR 18561, May 21, 1986]
§ 532.705 Appeal to the Office of Personnel Management.
Link to an amendment published at 71 FR 37490, June 30, 2006.
(a)(1) An employee may appeal the occupation series, grade or title of the job to the appropriate office of the Office of Personnel Management only (i) after the agency has issued a decision under the system established under §532.703; and (ii) if the employee files the appeal with the Office of Personnel Management within 15 calendar days after receipt of the decision of the agency.
(2) The Office of Personnel Management may extend this time limit if it is shown that the employee was not notified of the applicable time limit and was not otherwise aware of the limit, or that circumstances beyond the employee's control prevented filing an appeal within the prescribed time limit.
(b) An employee shall make the appeal in writing and shall identify specifically the portions of the decision or job analysis of the agency with which the employee disagrees.
(c) The Office of Personnel Management shall base its decision on the record established in the agency, except that when the Office of Personnel Management investigates or audits the job it may take the results of the investigation or audit into consideration. In the event the Office of Personnel Management audits the job, the employee's representative may not be present.
(d) The Office of Personnel Management shall notify the employee and the agency in writing of its decision. The effective date of a change in the series, title and grade of a job directed by the Office of Personnel Management shall be specified in the decision of the Office of Personnel Management, computed from the date the employee filed the application with the agency, and determined under §532.703(b)(10). However, when the decision will result in a downgrading or other job-grading action that will reduce the pay of the incumbent of the job, the effective date may not be set earlier than the date on which the decision can be effected in accordance with procedures required by applicable law and regulation.
(e) The appeal of an employee shall be canceled and the employee so notified in the following circumstances:
(1) On receipt of the employee's written request;
(2) On failure to prosecute, when the employee does not furnish requested information and duly proceed with the advancement of the appeal; however, instead of cancellation for failure to prosecute, an appeal may be adjudicated if the information is sufficient for that purpose. The Office of Personnel Management may reopen a canceled appeal on a showing that circumstances beyond the control of the employee prevented the employee from prosecuting the appeal; or
(3) On notice that the employee has left the job, except when entitled to retroactive benefits, including benefits allowable after the death of an appellant.
(f) The Office of Personnel Management may, at its discretion, reopen and reconsider any job-grading decision made by a regional office when requested by an employee or an agency. This authority may be used under circumstances such as the following:
(1) An employee or an agency presents material facts not previously considered by the regional office involved;
(2) There is room for reasonable doubt as to the appropriateness of a regional office decision; or
(3) The potential impact of a regional office decision on similar jobs under other regional offices is sufficiently significant to make central office review of the decision desirable.
(g) The Director of the Office of Personnel Management may, at his or her discretion, reopen and reconsider any previous decision when the party requesting reopening submits written argument or evidence which tends to establish that:
(1) New and material evidence is available that was not readily available when the previous decision was issued;
(2) The previous decision involves an erroneous interpretation of law or regulation or a misapplication of established policy; or
(3) The previous decision is of a precedential nature involving a new or unreviewed policy consideration that may have effects beyond the actual case at hand, or is otherwise of such an exceptional nature as to merit the personal attention of the Director of the Office of Personnel Management.
(h) A final decision by the Office of Personnel Management constitutes a certificate which is mandatory and binding on all administrative, certifying, payroll, disbursing, and accounting officials of the Government.
[46 FR 21344, Apr. 10, 1981, as amended at 51 FR 18561, May 21, 1986]
§ 532.707 Availability of information.
(a) The Office, upon a request which identifies the individual from whose file the information is sought, shall disclose the following information from an appeal file to a member of the public, except when the disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy:
(1) Confirmation of the name of the individual from whose file the information is sought and the names of the other parties concerned;
(2) The status of the appeal;
(3) The results of the appeal (i.e., proper title, pay plan, series, and grade);
(4) The classification requested (i.e., title, pay plan, series, and grade); and
(5) With the consent of the parties concerned, other reasonably identified information from the file.
(b) The Office will disclose to the parties concerned the information contained in an appeal file in proceedings under this part. For the purposes of this section, the parties concerned means the Government employee or former Government employee involved in the proceedings, his or her representative designated in writing, and the representative of the agency or the Office involved in the proceeding.
[50 FR 3313, Jan. 24, 1985]
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