| Comment Number: | OL-10510541 |
| Received: | 3/16/2005 10:22:34 AM |
| Subject: | Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Request for Comment |
| Title: | National Security Personnel System |
| CFR Citation: | 5 CFR Chapter XCIX and Part 9901 |
| No Attachments |
Comments:
In accordance with guidance contained in the “OPM Delegated Examining Operations Handbook”, in the competitive examining process, qualified and available applicants should be considered for employment referral regardless of their place of residence. Residency is a non-merit factor and to limit an area of consideration to a commuting area would appear to violate the merit principles of open competition and job relatedness. As a non-merit factor, residency as an examination requirement is prohibited in 5 CFR Part 300.103(c). If the provisions of the 1978 Supreme Court Decision “Hicklin v Orbeck 46 U.S.L.W. 4773 June 22, 1978” are still applicable, which made the exclusion of non-residents from job consideration in specific geographic areas appear to be discriminatory, then the proposal to limit consideration to the commuting area should be re-evaluated. The only exception is when a residency requirement is established by statute. In these cases, we would consider only eligible candidates who reside within the area of competition defined by the statute.