5 CFR 315 - CAREER AND CAREER-CONDITIONAL EMPLOYMENT

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is proposing regulations to implement the Pathways Programs established by E.O. 13562, signed December 27, 2010, to provide clear paths to Federal internships and potential careers in Government for students and recent graduates. As directed by the President, the Pathways Programs consist of the Internship Program, the Recent Graduates Program and the Presidential Management Fellows Program. The President determined that these programs should be excepted from the competitive service and placed in the newly created Schedule D of the excepted service. OPM's proposed implementing regulations would provide for more transparency in Federal internship opportunities, limit the programs so they are used as a supplement to competitive examining and not a substitute for it, apply veterans' preference, and provide for OPM oversight. Agencies would only be permitted to use the Pathways Programs as part of an overall workforce planning strategy and pursuant to an agreement with OPM. The regulations would require agencies to make an investment in the program participants' development through training, mentorship, and other means. The regulations would further require agencies to conduct meaningful assessments of participant performance as part of an agency's determination as to whether the program participants should be converted to permanent positions in the competitive service.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing proposed regulations to clarify that an employee's same-sex domestic partner qualifies, and should be treated as, a family member for purposes of eligibility for noncompetitive appointment based on overseas employment, as provided in section 315.608 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations. These regulations implement, in part, a June 2, 2010, Presidential Memorandum by providing same-sex domestic partners with the same employment opportunities that opposite-sex spouses of Federal employees receive under 5 CFR 315.608.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing proposed regulations to eliminate the 2-year eligibility limitation for noncompetitive appointment for spouses of certain deceased or 100 percent disabled veterans. OPM is removing this restriction to provide spouses of certain deceased or 100 percent disabled veterans with unlimited eligibility for noncompetitive appointment. The intended effect of this change is to further facilitate the entry of these military spouses into the Federal civil service.