U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000
This Directive was canceled June 8, 2004.
Order |
Subject |
FHWA Personnel Management Manual; Chapter 2: Employment
Section 3: Part-Time Employment |
Classification Code |
Date |
|
M3000.1B |
June 28, 1996 |
|
Par.
- Purpose
- Scope
- References
- Part-time Career Employment
- Procedures
- Pay
- Benefits
- Hours of Work
- Reporting Requirements
- PURPOSE. To provide guidance on the administration of a part-time
employment program in accordance with the Federal Employees Part-time Career
Employment Act of 1978 within the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).
- SCOPE. This section applies to all FHWA organizational units employing
personnel under the Federal Employees Part-time Career Employment Act of 1978.
- REFERENCES.
- Title 5, United States Code (U.S.C.), Chapter 34, Section 3401, which
codifies P.L. 95-437 (Federal Employees Part-time Career Employment Act of 1978).
- Title 5, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 340, Other Than Full-Time
Career Employment, and Part 890, Administration and General Provisions.
- Office of Management and Budget Circular A-64, Position Management and
Employment Ceilings, dated July 30, 1980, and Transmittal Memorandum No. 1, dated July 29, 1983.
- PART-TIME CAREER EMPLOYMENT
- Part-time career employment is regularly scheduled work from 16 to 32
hours per week (or 32 to 64 hours during a biweekly pay period in the case
of a flexible or compressed work schedule) performed by employees serving
under competitive or excepted appointments, effective on or after April 8,
1979. The part-time program in the FHWA applies to employees through GS-15
and equivalent positions in other pay plans consistent with FHWA resources
and mission requirements.
- Excluded from coverage under the Federal Employees Part-time Career Employment
Act (FEPCEA) of 1978 are student and summer aids, Schedule C, intermittent,
and temporary employees. Also excluded are career employees who were working
part-time on April 7, 1979 (for as long as they continue to work part-time
without a break in part-time service). Part-time employees who are not covered
by the FEPCEA, may work less than 16 and up to 39 hours per week as long as
they remain in an excluded category of employment.
- Part-time career employees will be charged against the "Other than
Full-time Permanent Employment" ceiling. This ceiling is expressed in
full-time equivalent terms, i.e., compensable work years. Compensable work
years equal hours worked, or scheduled to be worked in a 12-month period, divided by 2,087.
- PROCEDURES
- Participation. Participation in part-time programs is voluntary.
Employees in full-time positions cannot be required to accept part-time employment.
An employee desiring a change in employment from full-time to part-time (or
vice versa) should submit a formal written request to the first-level supervisor.
The first-level supervisor will evaluate the request in terms ofworkload,
potential benefits, retention of a valuable employee, and the best interest
of the government, and make his/her recommendation to the second-level supervisor.
The second-level supervisor approves or disapproves the employee's request,
provided he/she has been delegated that authority, after evaluating organizational
needs and employment ceilings. The servicing personnel office should be contacted
to help make these determinations. The decision of the second-level supervisor
is final. A decision should be made and the employee notified in writing within
15 workdays from the date of the formal written request.
(1) Approved Requests. The employee's request, a Standard
Form SF-52, Request for Personnel Action, and any related documents will
be forwarded to the servicing personnel office (Office of Personnel and
Training, Personnel Operations Division for Washington Headquarters employees
and the Regional Personnel Office for field employees).
(2) Denied Requests. The employee's request and any related
documents will be forwarded to the servicing personnel office. These records
will be retained for one year.
- Reassignments. A part-time employee can be reassigned to a position
with promotion potential no higher than his/her current position non-competitively,
provided the employee meets the qualification requirements for the position.
- Promotions. If the position being sought by a part-time employee
requires a promotion or has promotion potential beyond that contained in the
employee's current position, there must be competition in accordance with
the merit promotion procedures outlined in the Personnel Management Manual
(PMM), Chapter 3, Section 1, Merit Promotion Guidelines. Part-time experience
will be credited on a pro-rated basis when evaluating specialized experience
required for promotion to higher gradedpositions. Time-in-grade requirements
for part-time employees are not pro-rated.
- Newly Hired Employees. Part-time employment can also be used when
hiring new employees. One of the primary purposes of this program is to provide
new employment opportunities for those individuals unable to work a full 40
hour per week schedule (or 80 hour biweekly schedule for those on a flexible
or compressed work schedule). Supervisors should review each vacant position
to determine whether or not a part-time employee could be utilized for that position.
- Service Credit. A part-time employee receives a full year of service
credit for each calendar year worked, regardless of tour of duty, for the
purpose of computing career tenure, service for retention, completion of probationary
period, and leave accrual rates. Service credit for retirement is discussed in Section 7e below.
- Job Sharing. Job sharing is a form of part-time employment in
which the tours of duty of two or more employees are arranged in such a way
as to cover a single full-time position. Job-sharers are considered to be
individual part-time employees for purposes of appointment, tour of duty,
pay, classification, leave, holidays, benefits, etc. Job sharers may work
a variety of different scheduling arrangements provided the work is performed
on a regularly scheduled basis and is otherwise consistent with the guidelines
for part-time work.
- Coordination. Personnel specialists from within the servicing
personnel office for each region and Washington Headquarters will be available
to provide advice and assistance to both management officials and employees
regarding part-time employment program goals, purposes, and employee entitlement under the program.
- PAY. The hourly pay rate is the same for full-time and part-time
employees. Waiting periods for within-grade increases are not affected by part-time
status, since they are based on calendar weeks of creditable service.
- BENEFITS.
- Leave
(1) Annual leave is earned on a pro-rated basis as determined
by years of service. For example, a part-time employee with less than 3
years of service earns 1 hour of leave for each 20 hours worked. For 3 to
14 years of service, the rate is 1 hour for each 13 hours worked. For 15
years or more, 1 hour of leave is earned for each 10 hours worked. Maximum
carryover of annual leave at the end of the leave year is 240 hours, the
same as for full-time employees.
(2) Sick leave is earned at a rate of 1 hour for every 20 hours in pay status.
(3) Other leave categories (e.g., absence without leave, leave
without pay, court leave, excused absences) are not affected by part-time status.
- Holidays. Holiday pay is received according to the number of hours
scheduled to be worked on the day of the holiday. No holiday pay is received
if the holiday falls on a regularly scheduled non-work day.
- Health Benefits. Part-time career and career-conditional employees
are entitled to enroll in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. However,
instead of the full Government contribution received by full-time employees,
the amount of the Government contribution for part-time employees will be
an amount which is in direct proportion to the percentage of full-time servicethey
regularly perform. This ratio is determined by dividing the average number
of hours scheduled to be worked during the pay period by the average number
of hours worked by a full-time employee (normally 80 hours per biweekly pay
period). Part-time employees must pay the difference between the Health Plan
Premium amount and the pro-rated Government contribution.
- Life Insurance. Part-time career and career-conditional employees
are entitled to coverage under the Federal Employees Group Life Insurance
Program. The actual amount of insurance for which an employee is eligible
is based on annual salary. For this purpose, a part-time employee's annual
salary is computed on the basis of hours in the tour of duty times base pay rate.
- Retirement Benefits.
(1) FERS. Annuity benefits for employees under the Federal
Employees Retirement System (FERS) will be computed by multiplying the "high-three"
average salary rate by the length of service. The "high-three"
will be based on the full-time salary rate the employee would have earned
if he/she worked full-time. However, the length of service will be prorated
(reduced) to reflect actual part-time service.
(2) CSRS. Under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS),
annuity benefits for part-time service will be the sum of two computations:
a pre-April 7, 1986 basic annuity and a post-April 6, 1986 basic annuity.
The post-April 6, 1986 computation reflects a provision to the CSRS enacted
on April 7, 1986 which is intended to prevent the windfall benefit that
a long-time, part-time employee could receive in annuity if the employee
changed to full-time for the last 3 years of service, which are typically
the "high-three" salary years. The pre-April 7,1986 "high-three"
average salary rate will be reduced depending upon the number of hours worked.
This figure is then multiplied by the length of service performed prior
to that date to compute the annuity. The post-April 6, 1986 annuity will
be figured using the same computation method listed under FERS, with the
"high-three" multiplied by the length of service performed on
or after April 7, 1986. The resulting annuity benefit will then be prorated
(reduced) by a fraction, (e.g., 32 hours per week is equivalent to 4/5 of
the normal 40-hour work week), which represents the actual part-time tour of duty.
- HOURS OF WORK.
- A regular tour of duty must be established for the employee in line with
Office of Personnel Management (OPM) regulations, which is no less than 16
hours per week and no more than 32 hours per week. An increase in the tour
of duty above 32 hours per week is not usually permitted for more than two
consecutive pay periods. If an increase above 32 hours per week is necessary
for more than two consecutive pay periods on a short term or permanent basis,
the action must be documented on an SF-50.
- Overtime provisions for part-time employees are the same as those for full-time employees.
- Compensatory time may be earned at the discretion of the leave approving official.
- REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. The FHWA will report its progress in meeting
part-time employment goals as established by OPT to the Office of the Secretary
(OST) by April 30 and October 30 of each year. The OST will then report the
progress made in meeting the Department's part-time career opportunity goals to the OPM.
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