I, Brad Henry, Governor of the State of Oklahoma, pursuant to the
power and authority vested in me by law, so that the status quo shall be
maintained, and pursuant to the provisions of Subsection D of Section
840-2.14
of Title 74 of the Oklahoma Statutes, hereby order a state agency hiring
freeze.
For purposes of this hiring freeze, each statewide elected
official shall perform the duties of a Cabinet Secretary in approving or
disapproving exemptions to this hiring freeze. These duties shall be
accomplished in the same manner as other official actions by the elected
officials.
Subject to written approval by the Governor, the Secretary of
Human Resources and Administration may delegate specific agencies to a Deputy
Secretary for purposes of complying with this Order.
This hiring freeze shall be implemented by all agencies in
accordance with the following guidelines:
1. It is my direction that no audits of
classified positions or reallocation of unclassified positions shall be
initiated or conducted at the request of any agency unless specifically
approved by the appropriate Cabinet Secretary.
2. All audits resulting from a classification
grievance shall be exempt from the provisions of this Executive
Order.
3. Except as specifically
provided and authorized by this order, all affected state agencies are
prohibited from hiring, reinstating, or promoting employees and from accepting
a transferred employee from another agency.
4. Exceptions to this hiring freeze may be
granted pursuant to special conditions as declared by the Chief Administrative
Officer of any agency and approved by the appropriate Cabinet Secretary for
that agency.
a. A Chief Administrative
Officer shall submit a written request to the appropriate Cabinet Secretary
stating the special conditions requiring the submission of the
request.
b. Such requests may be on
forms provided by the Office of Personnel Management. If an agency has an
internal form regularly used by that agency which provides all the necessary
information, that form may be used in lieu of the Office of Personnel
Management forms if approved by the Administrator of the Office of Personnel
Management.
c. The Cabinet
Secretary shall indicate approval in writing of the submitted request for the
granting of an exception to this hiring freeze.
d. All approved requests and approved Cabinet
Secretary findings shall be maintained as an official record by the Office of
Personnel Management in accordance with Records Management Act. Any agency
which does not submit personnel action requests for approval to the Office of
Personnel Management shall be responsible for maintaining this
documentation.
e. In the event of a
vacancy in a Cabinet Secretary position, the Secretary of State shall act as
the approving authority for the hiring freeze exception requests.
5. The Administrator of the Office
of Personnel Management and the Director of the Office of State Finance are
hereby directed to develop and implement procedures necessary to carry out the
provisions of this Executive Order.
6. The Director of the Office of State
Finance is authorized to require Cabinet Secretaries to provide him with
periodic accountings of their approvals and disapprovals of written requests
for exemptions to this hiring freeze. These reports shall be provided to the
Governor.
7. The Oklahoma Military
Department shall not be required to comply with this order for hiring personnel
and contracts for which the department receives total federal government
reimbursement.
Copies of this Executive Order shall be distributed to the
Secretary for Human Resources and Administration for immediate
implementation.
The provisions of this Executive Order shall be effective from
January 1, 2011, and shall terminate December 31, 2011.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the
Great Seal of the State of Oklahoma to be affixed at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,
this 1st day of January, 2011.
BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA
Brad Henry
ATTEST:
Michelle Waddell
Acting Assistant Secretary of State
