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Washington, D.C. —The leader of the nation’s largest independent union of federal employees today raised serious concerns about proposed Office of Personnel Management (OPM) rules implementing the three new hiring Pathways Programs that circumvent the competitive hiring process.

The Internship Program, Recent Graduates Program and the Presidential Management Fellows Program were established by executive order after the administration abolished the Federal Career Intern Program (FCIP) as a result of a lengthy and determined effort by NTEU to end the FCIP.

That program had often been abused by a variety of federal agencies in ways that sharply undercut the traditional merit-based, competitive hiring system.

In comments submitted to OPM about its proposed rules, President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) said “major revisions of the proposed regulations are necessary for the Pathways Programs to be what OPM has promised: limited and targeted hiring programs, with effective safeguards to prevent further agency circumvention of the competitive process.”

Kelley expressed particular concern about what she described as the “discriminatory” effect of using the programs to target younger workers. “There can be no doubt that the Pathways Programs target younger applicants by design,” she said. The Internship Program is designed for current students and the Recent Graduates Program for persons who have graduated within the previous two years—or six years, for veterans.

Census data on school enrollment by age show that these two programs “are intended to, and will, discriminate against older applicants, in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act,” she said, noting that with the sole exception of veterans, “applicants for these positions who are more than two years after graduation—statistically, the older applicants—will automatically be disqualified from participation in the program.”

Further, President Kelley said that since actual work experience is the best measure of ability to perform a job, NTEU finds it “perplexing that the federal government would seek out and prefer applicants with little or no relevant experience over those with proven success in their fields to perform the important work of the federal government.”

She reiterated her long-held position that programs undermining the competitive, merit-based hiring system should be limited in scope and narrowly focused. The FCIP originally was intended to provide two-year structured training and development internships; instead, agencies were using it to bypass the competitive hiring process.

The NTEU leader also told OPM she is “very concerned” about the breadth of a new Schedule D Hiring Authority under its proposed rules. “This proposed Schedule D allows positions to be temporarily removed from the competitive service to allow for targeted recruiting and hiring from among students and recent graduates,” she said.

NTEU is deeply troubled by the temporary removal of any position from the competitive service so it can be filled under Schedule D, while the same position remains in the competitive service if filled by someone else, Kelley said. “Quite conceivably, and as happened under the now-defunct FCIP, two employees working side-by-side in the same position would be treated very differently simply because one was hired competitively and the other hired under Schedule D.”

Kelley also took sharp issue with the lack of a cap on the number of employees who can be hired under this authority, noting that the only potential cap would be on the number who can be converted to the competitive service at the end of their temporary appointment. The absence of a cap on the numbers to be hired “is the single most disappointing aspect” of the Pathways Program, she said.

At the same time, she noted it is quite troubling that the proposed regulations contain a process under which agencies can request a waiver from OPM from any of the requirements in the new regulations, “including the very limited accountability and oversight provisions” in the proposal.

“If OPM is serious about limiting the potential for abuse under the new Pathways Programs, it cannot waive agency requirements,” she warned.

The NTEU leader noted that OPM took steps to address problems with veterans’ preference that occurred under FCIP, including the use of public announcements and giving veterans up to six years to participate in the Recent Graduates program. However, she said, “the ability to monitor and enforce application of veterans’ preference remains compromised under the new Schedule D.”

As the nation’s largest independent federal union, NTEU represents 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.