I, Mary Fallin, Governor of the State of Oklahoma, pursuant to
the power and authority vested in me by 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.
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 appropriated Cabinet Secretary.
2. All audits resulting from a classification
grievance shall be exempted from the provisions of this Executive
Order.
3. All hiring,
reinstatement, promotion or acceptances of transferred Information Technology
positions, regardless of the Cabinet area of responsibility for which the
individual is employed, shall require the approval of the Secretary of
Information Technology and Telecommunications.
4. 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 without the express approval by the relevant
Cabinet Secretary if any one of the following statements apply:
a. The position is newly created, reinstated
after elimination, or is transferred from another agency.
b. The position is being hired at a higher
salary and/or cost to the state.
c.
The position has been open for more than 180 days.
5. For positions meeting any one of the
criteria outlined above in paragraph 4, an exception to this hiring freeze may
be granted only pursuant to special conditions as declared and memorialized by
the Chief Administrative Officer of any agency by submitting a request to, and
receiving approval from, the appropriate Cabinet Secretary for that agency. A
request by the Chief Administrative Officer of any agency, and approval by the
Cabinet Secretary, shall be made in the following manner:
a. The Chief Administrative Officer shall
submit a request to the appropriate Cabinet Secretary fully stating the special
conditions requiring the submission of the request.
b. Such requests shall be submitted through
the Office of Personnel Management's electronic exception process, if the
electronic exemption process is available.
c. The Cabinet Secretary shall indicate
approval of the submitted request for the granting of an exception of this
hiring freeze.
d. All approved
requests and Cabinet Secretary findings shall be maintained in the Office of
Personnel Management's exception system and in accordance with the Records
Management Act.
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 request.
f. All requests for hiring freeze exceptions
for agencies reporting to the Secretary of Human Resources and Administration
shall be directed to the Secretary of Finance and Revenue who shall have the
authority to review and approve those requests.
6. The Director of the Office of State
Finance is hereby directed to develop and implement procedures necessary to
carry out the provisions of this Executive Order.
7. 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 requests for
exemptions to this hiring freeze. These reports shall be provided to the
Governor. Additionally, to ensure proper monitoring, the Director of the Office
of State Finance is authorized to develop a protocol that requires Cabinet
Secretaries to regularly report all hiring actions in their respective areas of
responsibility, including hiring decisions that do not require Cabinet
Secretary approval.
8. 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.
9.
Notwithstanding the requirements of this Order, a Cabinet Secretary has the
discretion to impose more restrictive requirements on hiring, reinstating or
promoting employees in any one or all of the agencies within the their area of
Cabinet responsibility.
Copies of this Executive Order shall be distributed to the
Secretary for Finance and Revenue for immediate implementation.
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 19th day of April, 2012.
BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA
Mary Fallin
ATTEST:
Michelle R. Day
Assistant Secretary of State
