Office of Human Capital Management - DHRD - Classification-Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
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Frequently
Asked Questions
(FAQs)
Q.
I’d like to
promote an employee
who has been performing
additional assignments
that are not currently
a part of the existing
duties in his/her
PD. What do I have
to do?
A. This
is called an "Accretion
of Duties".
Submit an "Accretion
Package" to
your DHRD that consists
of the following:
Request for Personnel
Action (SF-52)
The revised PD
which includes
and describes
the additional
work and knowledge,
skills and abilities
required to perform
them
Q. I’d like to make minor changes to an existing PD. What do I
have to do?
A. Pen and
ink changes or PD
amendments are minor
changes which do
not impact the title,
series, or grade
of the position
(such as discontinuation
of a task occupying
less than 5% of
time, or minor changes
in procedures) PD
amendments are also
minor changes, but
involve more than
the pen and ink
changes and are
usually a paragraph
or more in length
but should be limited
to one page.
Submit the following
to your DHRD:
An
e-mail requesting
a pen and ink
change indicating
the changes to
be made to an
existing PD; or
the amendment
to be added to
an existing PD.
Q. I’d
like DHRD to review
a draft PD and tell
me what series and
grade level it is.
What do I have to
do?
A. This
is called an advisory
classification.
Submit the following:
An SF-52—on
page 4 annotate
"advisory"
and indicate your
proposed pay plan,
series, grade.
Attach the draft
PD to the SF-52.
No. OF-8 (PD coversheet)
needed.
Q. I need
to write a PD. Where
do I start?
A. First
check with your
DHRD advisor to
see if the same
or similar position
already exists at
your activity so
that you may be
able to use or modify.
Q.
How can there be
positions with similar
work but different
classifications?
A.
Agencies are required
to grade positions
according to the
work done in them;
that is, positions
are graded based
on the content of
the work and not
on the employee's
qualifications.
There are two reasons
why positions that
seem to involve
the same kind of
work are classified
differently:
Because the positions
are actually different.
While the tasks
might seem to be
similar, the complexity
of the work, as
well as the level
of responsibility,
authority, level
of contacts, purpose
of contacts, and
so on, could be
different and justify
different classifications.
Classification authority
is delegated to
agencies, and the
classification decision
is made by the agency
officials on the
scene with the most
information on the
positions in question.
Because one or
more of the positions
are not classified
correctly. OPM classification
standards may have
been interpreted
differently by whomever
classified the positions.
When OPM learns
of such situations,
we remind the agency
or agencies of their
responsibility to
classify similar
positions consistently.
Q. If my
position is upgraded,
am I entitled to
back pay?
A. If your
position is upgraded,
you cannot get back
pay for the period
of time your position
was misclassified.
(There is only one
situation in which
a classification
action may be made
effective retroactively
and an employee
be given back pay.
This highlighted
link will take you
to an explanation
of classification
appeals, retroactive
effective dates,
and back pay.)
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