Federal Daily - August 21, 2009

OPM Announces New Consolidated SES Office

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is consolidating various Senior Executive Service (SES) programs into a single centralized office to improve efficiency, OPM Director John Berry announced on Aug. 19. Duties of the consolidated office will include outreach to stakeholders in the SES program, including the Senior Executive Association and executive resource managers. As part of the realignment, the new office will be responsible for providing executive resource forums for agency executive resources specialists, as well as workshops and roundtables on leadership development. The new office also will manage the Qualifications Review Board, which certifies the executive core qualifications of SES applicants; and provide recommendations on the requests for agency SES, Senior Level, and Senior Technical position allocations. And, the new office will oversee the certification of senior performance appraisals systems and candidate development programs, Berry said. “Fully supporting this dynamic talent pool requires the Office of Personnel Management to implement new mechanisms that maximize the potential of these executives within the federal workforce,” said Berry. “The establishment of a centralized SES office will increase the efficiency of our efforts to better serve federal agencies and build a world-class workforce.” The SES covers positions in the executive branch classified above GS-15. To see more, go to: www.opm.gov/news/us-opm-director-announces-establishment-of-new-ses-office,1475.aspx.

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MSPB Sides With Disabled Vet in FCIP Complaint

The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) has sided with a disabled veteran who complained that the Social Security Administration (SSA) denied him his veterans’ preference rights by filling available SSA positions through the Federal Career Intern Program (FCIP). In a ruling earlier this month, MSPB overturned the order of an administrative judge (AJ) and ruled that Alvern C. Weed, a 30 percent disabled veteran, had standing to bring his hiring preference complaint. In the case, the AJ had ruled that Weed had no standing to complain because he never applied for the vacancies. However, Weed said that he did not apply for the vacancies because he was not aware of them—and that he was not aware of them because the agency had deliberately used FCIP hiring procedures to avoid issuing public notices, according to MSPB. In addition to ruling that Weed had standing to bring the complaint, the board ruled that the AJ must consider the allegation as part of a larger future hearing on the viability of the FCIP. The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), which had filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of Weed, applauded the ruling. “The MSPB decision should send a further signal that the legality of the FCIP is in serious question,” NTEU President Colleen Kelley said in an Aug 19 statement. FCIP is a special-focus hiring program originally intended to provide formally structured, two-year training and development internships for agencies to use as a strategic hiring tool. Instead, Kelley said, it has been used by a number of agencies to fill a wide range of positions—which, after a two-year internship, are converted without competition to permanent competitive service status. To see more, go to: www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?ID=1470.

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HHS Rules Will Require Public HIPAA Alerts

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Aug. 19 announced new rules requiring health care providers, health plans and other entities covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to notify individuals when their private health information is breached. The regulations, developed by the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR), also require those entities to notify HHS and the media when a breach affects more than 500 people. Breaches affecting fewer than 500 must be reported to HHS on an annual basis. The regulations also require business associates of a HIPAA-covered entity to notify it of breaches within their businesses. The regulations implement provisions of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, which was passed as part of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. “These protections will be a cornerstone of maintaining consumer trust as we move forward with meaningful use of electronic health records and electronic exchange of health information,” said Robinsue Frohboese, acting director and principal deputy director of OCR. The HHS interim final regulations are effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, and include a 60-day public comment period. To see more, go to: www.dhhs.gov/news/press/2009pres/08/20090819f.html.

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