European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 11, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday september 11, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 9rifs rules of the name no guarantee government workers will get fair shake Union Leader says m 4 v t a a n by Rosemary Sawyer staff writer Frankfurt West Germany a Union Leader Murray Sentner says he wants government workers to get a fair shake in the event of reductions in Force. But he a not convinced that will happen. A with budgetary crunches widely heralded and anticipated in Europe we would like to have employees not victimized through any abuse or misuse of supervisory authority a Sentner said. Based on what he a witnessed in his 48-year government career Sentner said he expects Many managers to see that a the script is rigged so that the individual who Hasni to curried favor with his Boss is the first one out on the  the president of the american federation of government employees chapter in Frankfurt says abuse will occur despite strict regulations on How layoffs Are to be conducted. A a it a illusory to think that anybody is going to be completely objective a Sentner said. Supervisors facing personnel cuts a Are looking for ploys and gimmicks to ease out old timers to ease out people they May consider abrasive or non supporting. Its grasping at straws to victimize employees. Its the beast in people that  some of the devices according to Sentner include giving excellent performance ratings to favored employees and poor ratings or warning letters to those who Are out of favor. Personnel officials credit workers with extra Points for successful performance ratings when compiling retention registers the lists that rank employees in the order that they would be Laid off during a if. Some employees a May just get fired so they re no longer a Factor to be considered on the retention Register a Sentner said. Sentner said the Union he represents might be Able to protect employees against such firing injustices. A if a civilian personnel office understands that there is another activity not Beholden to the military looking Over their shoulder at the time they Start formulating these retention registers and if there a any shenanigans going on somebody a going to put a Finger on it and spotlight this for Public attention and further review a Sentner said. Sentner claims that his Union which has 400,000 members worldwide but Only 500 in Europe has influence with Congress. A the defense establishment is usually far More responsive to the will of the Congress than to the wailing of a single individual stuck out in the Boondocks at some isolated installation in Europe a Sentner said. Sentner said he Hopes the unions efforts will result in expanded placement services to include categories of government workers previously ineligible for assistance. A if the jobs phase out Here and somebody has worked 10 or 15 years for the government and demonstrated conscientious and faithful performance then i believe it behoves the government to be concerned about that individuals welfare a he said. Most government placement programs assist Only those workers who hold a a regular civil service jobs. A the government has the Skeleton and the machinery already in place with its placement networks to handle this kind of a situation a Sentner said. A How much Effort and Cost would it be to expand that same service to the others a the american federation of government employees is pushing for More employee training. The government has the training Murray Sentner programs but Many Are underutilized Sentner said. He claimed that Many times supervisors just Arentt willing to let workers off to attend the training. A a there a going to be a mad scramble for jobs a Sentner said. A if the government knows that its current level of forces is going to be sharply curtailed what would prevent it from extending the Opportunity for Many who Are currently employed to gain additional skills or perfect additional skills that would make them More competitive in the work marketplace a retention registers in a reduction in Force retention registers Are used to rank workers by group in order of seniority and Job performance. Appropriated fund civil or excepted service tenure group 1 disabled veterans other veterans non veterans tenure group 2 disabled veterans other veterans non veterans tenure group 3 disabled veterans other veterans non veterans non appropriated fund group one workers not on probation cuts Are made from the Bottom of the groups. Group two workers still on probation  of from Page 8 workers who receive their jobs through the civil service competitive exam. Once the personnel office defines a competitive level it develops a retention Register. A retention Register ranks competing workers within tenure groups and subgroups in order of their retention credit. Tenure group 1 for excepted service workers includes permanent employees whose appointments carry no restrictions such As a specific trial period. Tenure group 2 is generally those serving their trial periods and group 3 have indefinite term or temporary appointments Over one year Long or one year current continuous service. Family member appointments fall in this last tenure group. For competitive service workers tenure group 1 includes any career employee not on probation period. Tenure group 2 includes career conditional employees and employees serving their initial appointment probation period. Tenure group 3 includes employees in indefinite appointments or term appointments. Generally overseas limited employees fall into tenure group 3. Although cad has been in his Job for three years he a in tenure group 3 because he a a family member and his appointment is limited to the length of his sponsors tour. Tenure group 3 is the most tenuous of the groups the first target for cuts. Within each tenure group Are three subgroups. The highest subgroup includes service veterans with a service connected disability of 30 percent or More the second includes other veterans preference workers and the third includes the non veterans. Within the tenure subgroup employees Are placed in retention order by their service computation Date plus additional credit Tor the last three annual performance ratings. If a performance rating is lacking a fully successful rating will be presumed. Carlos four year peacetime army hitch adds four years to his length of service. Carl received fully successful ratings on his last three performance appraisals so he 11 receive 12 years retention credit for the average of the three. If head received the highest rating he would have gotten 20 years credit for highly successful 16 years. No credit is Given for ratings below fully successful. With Carlos total of 19 years he was eighth on a list of 10 in tenure group 3 within his competitive level. Since three jobs were Cut with the closure of the finance office he will lose his Job. Because Carl is in tenure group 3 and in the excepted service he wont enter into further Competition for jobs. Displaced tenure group 1 and 2 workers in the competitive service enter this second round of Competition where they vie with other a a riffed workers for jobs outside their competitive level. In this second round of Competition riffed workers can displace workers with a lower retention standing called a bumping a or go Back to jobs they once held called  eligible tenure group 1 and 2 employees have to be qualified for a position to bump an employee out of it and they Arentt allowed to drop More than three pay grades below the position from which they were riffed. All this bumping and retreating is not a physical move but a paper exercise to determine who will ultimately lose their Job to a if. On average each if action causes about six other personnel actions. Office of personnel management regulations Call for at least 30 Days termination notice for All competing employees. Air Force regulations Call for minimum of 60 Days notice. A Rosemary Sawyers amps staff writer Naf from Page 8 were Only four probationary workers in group 2 below her she will lose out. If Jane had one More Point she would have tied for ninth place with another caterer and won the tie because she a held her current position longer. Personnel officials will consider military service to break a tie Only when the workers lengths of service m their current positions Are the same. Jane is entitled to one Job offer for a position for which she is qualified and is held by a person with a lower retention score. But it is a single offer. When such a position is not available Jane can be offered a position at a lower Grade. The government is obligated to make Jane Only one such bumping offer. If she turns Down a Job of equal Grade within her commuting area or outside of it with moving expenses provided she sacrifices her Severance pay. Jane could also Retreat to a Job from which she was promoted if the person holding it has a lower retention score. When bumping and retreating Arentt options for a worker the non appropriated fund instrumentality will consider offering the riffed employee a vacant position at the same or lower pay Grade without regard to the employees qualifications. Management must agree to the action and the incoming worker must be Able to attain the minimum qualifications within a year. Jane received no Job offer from the no appropriated fund instrumentality so she will collect Severance pay at the rate of one weeks Basic pay for each year of regular service. The maximum allowable amount however is four weeks. Naf workers employed before nov. 15, 1974, can receive up to one years Severance pay. Usa eur has also established a Naf priority placement program for grades ua-5 and above. All other regular full or Par time workers Are ranked m order of retention credit on a re employment priority list for one year. This list gives them hiring priority if jobs open similar to the ones from which they were Laid off. Project expo All . Air Force Europe bases and Many Usa eur communities now come under project expo rules for non appropriated fund employment so the above rules for layoffs do not apply. Under the experimental personnel office project 24 hours notice is required to separate someone due to a a business based action. A business based action is any separation or reduction in pay or hours related to business conditions and not related to an employees performance. Cafes a Layoff of army and air Force Exchange service employees in Europe would be conducted according to regular Naf rules with a few exceptions cafes personnel officials say. Along with awarding credit for performance and years of service Alfeis gives employees Points for completed training on a retention Register. With cafes competitive Levels Are normally defined by Job title. All sales associates for example would be in the same competitive level. Cafes makes no provision for  one employee cannot displace another unless the other person is serving the probation period. Cafes competitive areas normally include positions within a 30-mile commuting radius. All of a fest 12,300 regular full time and part time employees Are eligible for Severance pay while the nearly 4,000 intermittent and temporary workers Are not