Modify the Standard 15-Grade Classification System

3. Modify the standard 15-grade classification system that applies to
those employees not covered by a broadbanding system.

The director of OPM should submit proposed legislation to Congress by
fall 1994 that amends the classification law to give employing agencies
authority to make final classification decisions and to eliminate OPM's
review and compliance authority, effective one year after enactment.
During the one-year interim period, agencies should give appropriate
training to line managers who will be given classification
responsibilities and develop appropriate decision support systems (e.g.,
human resource planning and costing models).  OPM should immediately
begin the process of simplifying the standard classification system by
reducing the number of job categories used for classification purposes
and by developing abbreviated standards that focus solely on
full-performance (i.e., journey) levels of work.  In addition, as
recommended earlier in HRM01, OPM should issue regulations by spring
1994 deleting the requirements that employees serve some minimum amount
of time at a lower grade level to qualify for a higher grade (i.e.,
time-in-grade requirements).(18)

OPM should be responsible for developing and maintaining the
classification tools to be used by agencies participating in the
modified standard 15-grade classification system. OPM should publish the
primary classification standard setting forth the basic evaluation
criteria that will guide all classification decisions. In the first
stage of the simplification effort, it should also publish 30 to 50
job-specific classification standards that cover only the most populous
jobs and selected benchmarks. Eventually, all paper standards will be
eliminated and replaced by a manager-friendly automated classification
program. Since OPM standards will focus solely on full-performance
levels of work, agencies will be free to assign grades to entry and
developmental levels under their own authority and standards,
consistent with job qualification requirements.(19)

Agencies should classify full-performance level jobs using the OPM
standards, subject to a requirement that final classification decisions
be made at a level of management that operates under a fixed budget that
includes all pay-related costs. OPM will not have authority to overrule
an agency classification action. Each department or agency should be
required to provide for internal reviews of a position's classification
when requested by an employee.  A classification decision would be
appealable to a body outside the agency, such as the Merit Systems
Protection Board, only on the limited grounds that the decision
constituted a prohibited personnel practice; the agency's judgments as
to the value of different types of work would not be subject to
review.(20)

A governmentwide job titling system should be retained to support a
governmentwide human resources database and external salary surveys;
however, job categories should be consolidated to the maximum extent
appropriate. It is expected that the number of job series (currently
over 450) would be reduced by one-half or more.

The modified standard classification system is expected to greatly
simplify the job classification process and provide agencies and their
line managers with greater flexibility along with accountability for
proper administration. The link between classification and budget will
be strengthened. With the elimination of its review and compliance
authority, OPM would no longer have the role of classification police.
The elimination of the time-in-grade requirements will allow managers to
promote qualified employees without delay; in addition, since the
minimum time-in-grade requirements seem to be viewed by many employees
as length-of-service requirements triggering automatic promotion, their
elimination may help reinforce the principle that promotions are based
on qualifications and abilities, not longevity.

Endnotes

18. See also "HRM01, Create a Flexible and Responsive Hiring System,"
action 5.

19. Ibid.

20. Title 5, United States Code, sec. 2302.