Federal Daily - March 19, 2009

OPM Authorizes ARRA Excepted-Service Appointments

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced on March 17 that federal agencies are now authorized to use excepted-service appointments to fill positions needed to carry out provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Agencies may use this authority to fill, on a temporary basis for up to one year, positions at any grade level and in any geographic location, needed to carry out the ARRA. Agencies may extend these appointments, without OPM approval, in one-year increments, with no appointments extending beyond Sept. 30, 2012, OPM said. “This authority will allow agencies to expeditiously hire needed staff without sacrificing veterans’ preference,” said OPM acting Director Kathie Whipple. “OPM has remained steadfast in its protection of merit system principles and veterans’ preference, while at the same time providing agencies with flexible hiring authorities to meet their urgent needs.” To see more, go to: www.opm.gov/news/opm-authorizes-exceptedservice-appointments-to-support-recovery-act,1453.aspx

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DoD Report Shows Sexual Assault Reports Up 8% Last Year

Last year, there were 2,908 reports of sexual assault involving military servicemembers, representing an 8 percent increase from Fiscal Year (FY) 2007, according to a new DoD report released on March 17. The report, “Fiscal 2008 Report on Sexual Assault in the Military,” was prepared by DoD’s Sexual Assault Prevention Office (SAPRO) and provides an overview of data on alleged sexual assaults involving members of the armed forces. SAPRO said the increase may well reflect increased reporting of crimes as opposed to an increase in actual assaults, and that the higher number may reflect increased confidence by victims in how the military handles such reports. Overall, sexual assault remains one of the most underreported crimes in the country. Of the incidents investigated, 1,594 (or 70 percent) of the total number of unrestricted reports involved servicemembers as victims. Victims can opt to make an unrestricted report, which triggers a law enforcement investigation, or a restricted report, which does not alert law enforcement, but makes victims eligible for support services. Among unrestricted reports, 1,158 (or 51 percent) in FY 2008 involved allegations against fellow servicemembers. On the disposition side, officials cleared about half (1,074, or 49.5 percent) of the cases resolved in FY 2008 as unsubstantiated, unfounded or lacking sufficient evidence. Of the cases closed in FY 2008, commanders had jurisdiction and sufficient evidence of a crime to support taking disciplinary action against 832 defendants (compared to just 600 cases in FY 2007). Of those FY 2008 cases, 317 defendants faced courts martial (38 percent), 247 received nonjudicial punishments (30 percent) and 268 were punished via administrative actions and discharges (32 percent). To see more, go to: www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12561.

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Kaplan Appointed as New OPM General Counsel

Office of Personnel Management acting Director Kathie Ann Whipple on March 17 announced the appointment of Elaine Kaplan as the agency’s general counsel. Kaplan last served as senior deputy general counsel for the National Treasury Employees Union, where she litigated and supervised the litigation of cases at all levels of the federal court system. Kaplan served from 1998 to 2003 as head of the Office of Special Counsel under President Clinton, and then worked for a year in the law office of Bernabei and Katz, an employment law and civil rights firm. Kaplan holds a law degree from Georgetown University.  To see more, go to: www.opm.gov/news/opm-acting-director-whipple-announces-appointment-of-elaine-kaplan-as-general-counsel,1452.aspx.

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