In a recent fedsmith.com article, Steve Oppermann discusses the Office of Special Counsel’s successful prosecution of two HR specialists who were accused of engaging in a prohibited personnel practice (PPP) by attempting to help agency management pre-select a candidate for a vacancy. Mr. Oppermann discusses the fine line HR professionals walk line between providing good customer service and abetting management’s efforts to commit a PPP, adding that that it is hard to fault a manager for wanting to consider an employee who has done an excellent job for her/him. In this fine article, Mr. Oppermann provides analysis of the decision and points out issues that HR specialists should be aware of as they perform their responsibilities as the day-to-day “gate-keepers” of Title V with their role as management consultants.
What do you think?
P.S. A followup article was also published regarding this Office of Special Counsel decision.