I, Mary Fallin, Governor of the State of Oklahoma, pursuant to
the power and authority vested in me by Sections
1 and
2 of Article VI of the Oklahoma
Constitution and by Subsection D of Section
840-2.14
of Title 74 of the Oklahoma Statutes, hereby order a State agency personnel
action freeze (hereinafter referred to as "personnel freeze").
For purposes of implementing this personnel freeze, I hereby
delegate authority to approve or disapprove exemptions to the freeze to:
1) the statewide elected officials who
direct and manage State employing entities; and
2) for all other State employing entities,
the appropriate Cabinet Secretary, as designated by the Executive Order in
effect that creates the Cabinet System pursuant to 74 O.S. §
10.3.
The personnel freeze shall be implemented by all agencies in
accordance with the following guidelines:
1. 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. However, all audits resulting from a classification grievance shall
be exempt from the provisions of this Executive Order.
2. Except as specifically provided and
authorized by this Order, all State agencies are prohibited from hiring,
reinstating, granting salary raises, awarding performance bonuses, promoting
employees, and accepting a transferred employee from another agency without
first securing the expressed, written approval of the appropriate Cabinet
Secretary.
3. With regard to
Information Technology (IT) positions, however, all hiring, reinstatement,
salary raises, performance bonuses, promotions, or acceptances of transferred
employees, shall require the exclusive approval of the Secretary of Finance,
Administration, and Information Technology (Secretary of Finance).
4. For personnel actions meeting any of the
criteria outlined in paragraphs 2 and 3 above, an exemption to this personnel
freeze may only be granted if the Chief Administrative Officer of an agency
submits a request to, and receives approval from, the appropriate Cabinet
Secretary for that agency, or, for (IT) personnel actions, approval from the
Secretary of Finance. Requests for exemptions and approvals shall be made in
the following manner:
a. The Chief
Administrative Officer shall submit a written request to the appropriate
Cabinet Secretary that fully documents and establishes the unique,
fact-specific conditions justifying the request.
b. Such requests shall be submitted through
the electronic exception process of the Human Capital Management Division of
the Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES), hereinafter referred
to as HCM, if such electronic exception process is available.
c. Upon finding that the request for an
exemption to this personnel freeze is warranted by unique, fact-specific
conditions, the Cabinet Secretary shall indicate his or her written
approval.
d. All approved requests
and Cabinet Secretary findings shall be maintained in accordance with the
Records Management Act, and in HCM's exception system, if available.
e. In the event of a vacancy in a Cabinet
Secretary position, the Secretary of State shall act as the approving authority
for the personnel freeze exemption request.
5. The Director of OMES is hereby directed to
develop and implement procedures necessary to carry out the provisions of this
Executive Order.
6. The Director of
OMES is authorized to require Cabinet Secretaries to provide him with periodic
accountings of approvals and disapprovals of requests for exemptions to this
personnel action freeze, which reports shall also be provided to the Governor.
Additionally, to ensure proper monitoring, the Director of OMES is authorized
to develop a protocol that requires Cabinet Secretaries to regularly report all
personnel actions in their respective areas of responsibility.
7. Oklahoma Military Department personnel
actions shall comply with this Order, except for those actions and contracts
for which the Department receives total federal government
reimbursement.
8. Notwithstanding
the requirements of this Order, a Cabinet Secretary has the discretion to
impose more restrictive personnel action requirements in any one or all of the
agencies within his or her area of responsibility.
Copies of this Executive Order shall be distributed to the
Secretary of Finance and the Director of OMES 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 6th day of February, 2015.
BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE
STATE OF OKLAHOMA
Mary Fallin
ATTEST:
Chris Morriss
Assistant Secretary of State
