PERSONNEL INTERCHANGE BETWEEN MERIT SYSTEMS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00357R000200040034-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 30, 2002
• Sequence Number: 34
• Content Type: OPEN

Public '-ir-3*nne1 H view
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Personnel Interchange Between Merit Systems
Gilbert A. Schulkind
OUT 85 percent of employment in the
federal government is now under
the competitive civil service system ad-
ministered by the U. S. Civil Service Corn-
mission. The remaining 15 percent is "ex-
cepted" from the competitive require-
mems of the Civil Service Act of 1883 by
statute or by administrative action. Some
agencies employing excepted employees
operate independent personnel systems
which have been called "merit systems"
by various sources.
Free interchange of employees between
the competitive civil service and other in-
dependent personnel systems in the ex-
ecutive branch has not been possible up
to now. Initial. entry into the competitive
service through appointments conferring
competitive civil service status generally
requires open competitive examinations.
Persons employed in independent person-
nel systems who desire to move to jobs
in the competitive civil service must com-
pete with the general public in such ex-
aminations. They may be appointed only
if they are among the top three available
candidates. Similarly, employees of the
competitive civil service who seek em-
ployment with independent personnel
systems in the federal government are
placed on the same footing as persons
who have never served with the federal
government.
The Commission on Organization of
the Executive Branch of the Government,
the so-called second FFoover Commission,
called attention to this situation. In its
Report on Personnel and Civil Service
issued February 1955, it recommended
that:
Persons who have served satisfactorily in a
recognized federal merit system outside the
civil service should receive status and thereby
be eligible for transfer to a competitive job
under the Civil Service Act. Correspondingly,
legislation governing personnel systems outside
of the civil service laws should be modified to
? Gilbert A. Schulkind is Chief, Employment Sys-
tems Section, Program Planning Division, U.S.
Civil Scrvicc Commission. (The opinions and pre-
dictions expressed in this article are those of the
author and do not necessarily express the views of
permit persons with civil service status recip-
rocal rights under other certified merit systems.
People who have served the federal govern-
ment under a true merit system should be
available for use anywhere in the government.
Commission Sets Up Framework
for Interchange
The U.S. Civil Service Commission
had also given attention to this problem
before the Hoover Commission report
was published. On January 23, 1955, the
Civil Service Rules were amended upon
recommendation of the Commission to
provide a framework for working out
practical methods of interchanging em-
ployees between the competitive civil
service and independent merit systems.
A new section was added to the Rules
providing that:
o6.7. Whenever the Commission and any
federal agency having an established merit sys-
tem determine it to be in the interest of good
administration and consistent with the intent
of the civil service laws and any other appli-
cable laws, they may enter into an agreement
prescribing conditions under which persons
may be moved from one system to the other
and defining the status and tenure that the
persons affected shall acquire upon such move-
ment.
The purpose of this article is to de-
scribe the work that has been done by the
Civil Service Commission to carry out
this interchange provision in the Rules
and to discuss some of the problems faced
by the Commission in achieving this ob-
jective.
The first major problem of the Commis-
sion's staff was to define the term "merit
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JULY 1957
system." Thorough search of the litera-
ture in the field of public personnel ad-
ministration shows that there is no
commonly accepted definition. The Civil.
Service Commission's own regulations
and instructions do not explicitly state
the principles upon which they are based.
Since it was necessary to review the oper-
ations of independent personnel systems
to determine whether interchange agree-
ments could be worked out which would
meet the conditions of this new provi-
sion of the Rules, a working definition of
the term had to be developed to make
such identification possible.
A second and closely related problem
was to define the meaning of the terms
"consistent with. the intent of the civil
service laws and any other applicable
laws." This required identification of the
laws to be reviewed and agreement as to
what action would be consistent with that
intent.
"1'he Commission staff believed that if
sound working definitions of these terms
could be established it would then be pos-
sible to develop a set of standards or cri-
teria against which the operations of in-
dependent personnel systems could be
reviewed. The first part of the project,
therefore, was to establish sound working
definitions and standards for this pur-
pose.
What Is an Established Merit System?
To approach the problem from a prac-
tical standpoint, the Commission staff be-
lieved that it would not be necessary to
arrive at a definition of the merit system
that would have universal acceptance or
validity for all purposes. the primary
concern was to give practical effect to the
interchange provision in the Civil Service
Rules. This meant that a definition was
needed which would foster the principles
basic to the merit system. in the competi-
tive civil service as well as the principles
basic to those independent personnel sys-
tems.in the executive branch with which
interchange might be arranged.
The Commission staff concluded that
its consideration should. be limited pri-
marily to the method by which persons
enter into employment and advance in a
personnel system. Although other impor-
tant aspects of personnel management
such as classification and compensation,
service ratings, reduction in force, etc.,
are important to a complete merit system
concept, we (lid not believe iliac it would
be necessary to develop standards or cri-
teria in these areas for the purpose of de-
veloping an interchange program.
it was also found helpful to distinguish
between the term "merit system" and the
term "career service" or "career system."
These terms have often been used. rather
loosely and interchangeably in referring
to the competitive civil service in the fed-
eral government. For the purpose of this
project, it was important to recognize
that, while merit systems tend to become
career systems, not all career systems are
necessarily merit systems.
It was important to approach this prob-
lem from the standpoint of objectives and
principles rather than processes or pro-
cedures. If the processes by which the ob-
jectives are to be achieved are confused
with the objectives themselves, all systems
which differ from the competitive service
in the mechanics employed would be ex-
cluded.
Three Common Objectives
With. these general conclusions as back-
ground the Commission proceeded to an-
alyze established merit systems, in federal,
state and local government, as well as the
literature in the field of public personnel
administration. 't'his review showed that
all true merit systems have three basic ob-
jectives in common. "1'hey may be sum-
marized as:
I. Competence.-Securing the best qual-
ified and available personnel either for
particular jobs or for entrance into ca-
reers in a personnel system.
2. Political neutrality.-Securing a stable
and continuing body of employees dedi-
cated to carrying out the policies estab-
lished by officials responsible for policy
formulation.
3. Equal opportunity.-Providing a sub-
stantially equal opportunity for all inter-
Wrested citizens to be considered for em-
ployment without discrimination based
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PUBLIC PERSONNEL REVIEW
on. racial, political, religious, or other
grounds.
Securing the best qualified personnel
either for particular jobs or for entrance
into careers is essential in any personnel
system which seeks to operate a merit sys-
tem. Political neutrality is a necessity in
our form of government to preserve the
career aspects of- merit systems while
changes occur in political leadership.
Neutrality must also include the concept
that removals are not made for political
reasons. Finally, equality of opportunity
is one of the essential rights in a democ-
racy. It constitutes a primary difference
between most private employment and
the public service. In a democracy, every
citizen has a right to be considered for em-
ployment by his government on the basis
of his merit and fitness for employment,
and without discrimination. These three
objectives were combined into a working
definition of a merit system.
The next step was to determine what
was meant by the term "established"
when used in conjunction with the term
"merit system." It was concluded that this
terra means that a framework for a system
designed to meet the objectives cited
above must be embodied in written form
in law, rule, regulation, or instruction,
and that day-to-day operations must ac-
cord with the written principles. An es-
tablished merit system, then, would be a
personnel system which, has a framework
embodied in written form and which
seeks to achieve, and in practice tends
to achieve, the three primary objectives
of competence, political neutrality, and
equality of opportunity.
Consistency with the Intent of the
Civil Service Laws
The principal civil service
law
con-
cerned is the Civil Service Act
of
1883.
The general intent of this law
is
to es-
tablish. the framework for open competi-
tive entrance to those positions which are
brought under its coverage.
The Civil Service Act gives the U. S.
Civil Service Commission the responsibil-
ity of aiding the President in preparing
suitable rules for carrying the Act into
effect. It sets forth guides for what the
rules should contain, "as nearly as the
conditions of good administration will
warrant." The fundamental principles
stated in the law are (a) "open competi-
tive examinations"; (b) these examina-
tions shall be practical and "as far as may
be, shall relate to those matters which
fairly test the relative capacity and fitness
of the persons examined to discharge the
duties of the service into which they seek
to be appointed"; (c) ranking of competi-
tors and "selections according to grade
from among those graded highest" in such
examinations; (d) prohibitions against po-
litical influence; and (e) "non-competitive
examinations in all proper cases where it
is not feasible to hold competitive exami-
nations."
The central concept of the Civil Service
Act is embodied in the term "open com-
petitive examination." This term as ana-
lyzed by the Commission contains seven
basic elements:
i. Publicity.-For an examination to be
truly open, there must be a reasonable
amount of information made available to
citizens about the existence of vacancies.
If not, the basic principle of equality of
opportunity will not be achieved.
2. Opportunity to apply.-Interested per-
sons who have learned of the vacancy
must have a reasonable opportunity to
make known their availability for consid-
eration.
3. Equal and impartial application of real-
istic and reasonably valid standards of com-
petence and fitness.-The process of exami-
nation involves the measurement of
individual competitors against a single
standard. This standard must have a re-
lation to the duties of the position or to
the requirements of a career in the service.
4. Absence of discrimination.-The stand-
ards applied must not contain any factors
that do not relate to competence and fit-
ness. This means no requirement of po-
litical clearance or political test and no
discrimination on racial, religious, or
other grounds.
5. Selection from among those considered
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most competent on the basis of the standards.
-The essence of competition implies the
ranking of candidates in order of a rela-
tive evaluation of their competence and
selection from among those
most competent.
6. Knowledge of the results.-Citizens who
apply should be able to learn of the con-
sideration that was given to their applica-
tions. 't'his is necessary to insure public
confidence and is good practice in the re-
lationship of government to its citizens.
7. Entitlement to administrative review.-
Applicants should have an opportunity to
request and receive a review of the re-
sults if they believe that the system has
not been properly applied. 'Phis provides
a safeguard against administrative error
and final assurance that the entire process
is both open and competitive.
The Civil Service Commission. con-
cluded that interchange with an inde-
pendent personnel system which adheres
to these seven basic elements making up
the concept of open competition would
be clearly consistent with the intent of
the Civil Service Act.
Consistency with the Intent of
Other Applicable Laws
In line with the original determination
that for the purpose of this project review
should be limited to matters involving re-
cruitment, selection, and advancement of
personnel, the Commission concluded
that there is only one other law germane
to this problem. The Veterans' ]'reference
Act of 1944 contains certain provisions
specifically concerned with the initial ap-
pointment of personnel. 'I'lic employ-
ment provisions of this statute were the
only ones which required consideration.
Since most federal agencies having posi-
tions that are outside the competitive
civil service are specifically covered by the
employment provisions of the Veterans'
Preference Act, the Commission could
generally assume that interchange be-
tww-een such systems and the competitive
civil service would be consistent with the
intent of the Veterans' ]'reference Act.
Tentative Criteria
A summary of these factors which were
identified in the analysis of the new Civil
Service Rule provides a set of standards
or criteria applicable to any independent
federal personnel system for the purpose
of determining whether that system is an
''established merit system," and whether
interchange of employees between that
system and the competitive civil service
would meet the conditions of the Rule.
The next problem was to establish the ap-
proach to be used. in applying these
standards. 'I'he key to such an approach
is found in the language of the Civil
Service Act of i 88;3 itself. This Act uses
such language as "as nearly as the condi-
tions of good administration will war-
rant," ''so far as may be," etc. 'I'bis im-
plies a test of reasonableness, administra-
tive feasibility, and practicality. Thus, it
is reasonable under certain circumstances
to limit publicity or acceptance of appli-
cations to given geographic areas, to es-
tablish minimum age limits, to set physi-
cal standards and requirements, etc. 'I'hc
Commission concluded that the proposed
merit system standards must be applied
within this general spirit.
Another important factor to be consid-
ered was that of public policy that is
overriding. An example is veteran prefer-
ence in employment, which has been gen-
erally established in the law of most gov-
ernment jurisdictions. Similarly, residence
requirements for certain positions, appor-
tiomnent requirements such as those in
the Civil Service Act of 188;, etc., are
applications old this principle of public
policy. The existence of such provisions
can obviously not be a bar to interchange
of personnel under merit system stand-
a rds.
The Commission also determined that
its standards must be tentative until they
could be tested in practice against the ac-
tual operations of independent personnel
systems to insure that they are both prac-
tical and realistic.
Next Steps
The next step in the project is to con-
duct negotiations with individual federal
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PUBLIC PERSONNEL REVIEW
agencies operating under independent
personnel systems to determine whether
these systems are established merit sys-
tems as defined by the tentative standards
and criteria and whether interchange can
be worked out on a practical basis.
The first interchange agreement was
made between the Civil Service Commis-
sion and the Atomic Energy Commission,
to be effective June 9, 1957- The Commis-
sion is negotiating with other agencies in
the federal service which have independ-
ent personnel systems and additional in-
terchange agreements will probably be
concluded during 1957.
Predictions
The merit system standards which have
been developed for the immediate pur-
pose of establishing personnel inter-
change programs within the federal serv-
ice have even broader implications for
merit system administration generally.
The time may not be too distant when
serious consideration will be given to de-
veloping interchange programs between
the federal service and state and local
governments which maintain established
merit systems. Certainly the standards
which have been developed could apply
to interchange of personnel between ju-
risdictions as well as to the federal gov-
ernment alone.
For the competitive civil service system
itself there are also important lessons to
be learned from these merit system stand-
ards. They provide a firm basis for look-
ing behind procedures and processes to
basic objectives and principles. They give
the United States Civil Service Commis-
sion a fresh. chance to re-examine its
methods of operation, its regulations, and
even its legislative authorities in the light
of basic principle. The development of
these merit system standards may be rec-
ognized in the future as a milestone in
the history of the merit system. They may
have far-reaching effects, extending be-
yond their immediate purpose of provid-
ing a basis for personnel interchange be-
tween independent personnel systems in
the executive branch. of the federal gov-
ernment.
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