This IRM is part of the Servicewide effort to provide IRS Human Resource practitioners with the most current policies and procedures from the HCO, PA.

It has been a long-standing policy of the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and the IRS that the requirements for employment in the excepted service are normally the same as the OPM requirements for employment in the competitive service. Written tests required for competitive appointments are waived for appointments in the excepted service. Within both the competitive and excepted service, the requirements for positions under the General Schedule are also applicable to positions under other pay plans, with the exception of positions under the Federal Wage System.

Laws:https://uscode.house.gov/

Public Laws: https://www.congress.gov/

Regulations: https://www.ecfr.gov

Other:

HCO, OHRS, PA, is responsible for:

HCO, OHRO, PEO, is responsible for:

The following tables provide terms and acronyms contained in this IRM:

Applicants selected under an excepted appointment will be required to serve a two-year trial period under 5 CFR 213.3102(u)(6), unless Executive Order or regulation authorizing the appointment specifies a shorter trial period. The trial period is an assessment period that provides managers the opportunity to evaluate an appointee’s performance and conduct on the job to determine the fitness of employee for continued employment in the IRS.

Time spent on the excepted appointment counts toward the probationary period and/or career tenure if converted to a career or career-conditional appointment in the competitive service per 5 CFR 213.3102(u)(6). Time spent on a temporary appointment, as specified in 5 CFR 213.3102(u)(6), does not count towards the two-year requirement if the work is of a temporary nature.

The HCO, OHRO, PEO, and TA are responsible for ensuring that the vacancy announcement contains trial period information specific to the position and type of appointment.

EDI is responsible for assisting HCO, Employment Offices with reasonable accommodation requests to allow applicants and employees with disabilities to efficiently apply for and perform the duties of their positions.

The legal framework that supports and encourages the employment, retention, and advancement of people with disabilities is discussed on the OPM website, Policy, Data, Oversight - Disability Employment at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/disability-employment/

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was given authority over equal employment enforcement in the federal government by Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1978, later incorporated into Executive Order 12144 dated June 22, 1979.

The role of the OPM is to promote the hiring, placement, and advancement of disabled individuals and rehabilitated offenders throughout the federal sector. Additionally, OPM furnishes direction, guidance, and technical support to agency heads, directors of human resources, and personnel officers in their selective placement program activities. OPM maintains a website devoted to disability employment at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/disability-employment/.

The OHRO has responsibility for hiring programs associated with the Disability Program. The Director, TA is responsible for initiating and coordinating the IRS Affirmative Action Plan for the employment of persons with disabilities with the HCO, TA, Employment Office, EDI, and Treasury.

A Special Placement Coordinator (SPC) is located in HCO, TA. SPC’s are advocates for Schedule A hiring and should be the first contact for the hiring managers when filling positions under the Schedule A appointing authority. SPC duties are collateral. The names of all SPC’s and their contact information are posted on the internal HCO website at: http://hco.web.irs.gov/recruitstaff/ETS/EmploymentOps/Contact/EO-Contacts.shtml or contact can be made with HCO, STARS.

The SPC will:

Managers will:

An applicant with a disability may be appointed non-competitively to a permanent or a temporary position, under the Schedule A appointing authority (An open announcement is not required). The Schedule A is a special appointing authority for persons with disabilities. Proof of an applicant’s disability is required prior to making an appointment under this authority.

To be eligible for these noncompetitive, Schedule A appointments, applicants must meet the definition for being disabled contained in 5 CFR 213.3102(u), and provide the following:

Management may utilize a temporary appointment to observe the applicant on the job to determine whether the applicant is capable of performing the duties of the position. When this option is used, the hiring manager may convert the applicant to a permanent appointment when it has been determined that the individual is able to perform the duties of the position as demonstrated in 5 CFR 213.3102(u)(5).

Applicants who are selected for positions under Schedule A must meet the qualification requirements for the position and be able to perform the essential duties of the position with or without reasonable accommodations. Per 5 CFR 213.101, all appointments in the excepted service are specifically excepted from competitive service and they do not confer competitive status. Therefore, Schedule A employees are not eligible to compete under merit promotion procedures through internal or status announcements. These employees may request non-competitive consideration for a position they qualify for by contacting their manager who coordinates with the Employment Office Schedule A Coordinator.

Disabled employees may be promoted and reassigned to positions for which they are qualified. There are no special procedures as in the initial appointment procedure, for promotions and reassignments of disabled employees.

Employees have the option to request consideration for placement into a position for which they qualify using Schedule A authority for placement. To do this, a request is made by the employee to their manager and/or through the SPC.

Disabled employees should make their qualifications and desires for particular positions known to their managers in order to be considered for such internal promotions and reassignments.

Promotion and reassignments for Schedule A disabled employees are considered an alternate method of filling a vacancy.

After two years of successful performance in a permanent position, an employee serving in the excepted service under Schedule A, 5 CFR 213.3102(u), an employee may be non-competitively converted to a career or career-conditional appointment upon the recommendation of his/her supervisor.

Conversion to a competitive appointment is not mandatory. The supervisor should provide in writing, through the appropriate SPC, substantive justification for not recommending conversion of an employee who has demonstrated successful job performance. See 5 CFR 315.709 for guidance.

Time spent on a temporary appointment may not be credited towards the two-year trial period requirement according to 5 CFR 213.3102(u)(6).

Upon notification from the SPC, the Business Unit is responsible for initiating the Personnel Action Request to convert or terminate the employee. The effective date of the action must be current; conversion actions are not to be processed with retroactive effective dates.

All disability and medical documentation for appointments must be maintained in a confidential manner in HCO, TA, Employment Offices. This material is not to be included or placed in the individual's Official Personnel Folder or medical folder. The documentation is considered confidential by virtue of the medical records and other sensitive information and must be stored in a secure manner on a SharePoint or other electronic site. Since these records are collected solely for the purpose of Schedule A, 5 CFR 213.3102(u) appointments, the records are not to be used for any other purpose and should be maintained for two years after conversion.

Case files are to be established and maintained by the Employment Office for each applicant who is considered for a Schedule A appointment. At a minimum, the case file must contain the following information:

Annual reporting is required by Treasury for disability hiring. The Business Unit's accomplishments under the Disability Program are reported in the Service’s Disabled Veterans Affirmative Action Program annual report. HCO, PEO is responsible for preparing the annual report and forwarding to EDI. EDI manages the information received and includes successes, deficiencies, participation rates, advancement, and retention of individuals with targeted disabilities in their Management Directive 715 Annual Report.