Federal Supervisory Role - Acting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are people allowed to refuse acting roles?

The work needs to get done, so they can decide the fallout when it doesn't. if its your supervisor's role, usually it will impact your own job performance, which is why people usually step up and do the work.

Personally I would be ok with doing the substantive work, but would not want to be the one signing off officially or being responsible for formally overseeing employees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they cut you a SF-50 for your role? Or is it just a memorandum from management saying Joe is acting for now kinda thing? I am not sure if all agencies work the same, but I was acting Office Director (GS-15/SES) over a year. It started with "Joe is acting" which had 120-day limit (but can be extended to 240 days) but no SF-50 followed by "Joe is acting" with SF-50 which formalized my supervisor duties. With SF-50, you are a real supervisor with supervisory duties. Without SF-50, you don't have supervisory duties (just babysitters really). But, like I said, other agencies may work differently.

Nope, no SF-50 at all. They provided a formal memo outlining what I will be doing, which basically includes everything that a supv does. I’m doing timesheet, assigning, reviewing, and approving work, travel authorizations. Seems like this is a way to get around paying a 15 wage. I think they will plan to advertise the position eventually - maybe this will give me a leg up on the selection?

That sounds fishy. At my agency you couldn't do some of those without a formal SF-50.

+1, we would also require an SF-50 at mine. Does anyone know if lack of an SF-50 puts OP ar risk, e.g. if she authorizes something that gets questioned? Maybe the memo is enough.

OP, if you don't have fed supervisor insurance, you may want to look into that.

WHAT IS FEDERAL SUPERVISOR INSURANCE? Is that something I would buy on my own or part of my agency? Would most jobs have this insurance even in non federal??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they cut you a SF-50 for your role? Or is it just a memorandum from management saying Joe is acting for now kinda thing? I am not sure if all agencies work the same, but I was acting Office Director (GS-15/SES) over a year. It started with "Joe is acting" which had 120-day limit (but can be extended to 240 days) but no SF-50 followed by "Joe is acting" with SF-50 which formalized my supervisor duties. With SF-50, you are a real supervisor with supervisory duties. Without SF-50, you don't have supervisory duties (just babysitters really). But, like I said, other agencies may work differently.

Nope, no SF-50 at all. They provided a formal memo outlining what I will be doing, which basically includes everything that a supv does. I’m doing timesheet, assigning, reviewing, and approving work, travel authorizations. Seems like this is a way to get around paying a 15 wage. I think they will plan to advertise the position eventually - maybe this will give me a leg up on the selection?

That sounds fishy. At my agency you couldn't do some of those without a formal SF-50.

+1, we would also require an SF-50 at mine. Does anyone know if lack of an SF-50 puts OP ar risk, e.g. if she authorizes something that gets questioned? Maybe the memo is enough.

OP, if you don't have fed supervisor insurance, you may want to look into that.

WHAT IS FEDERAL SUPERVISOR INSURANCE? Is that something I would buy on my own or part of my agency? Would most jobs have this insurance even in non federal??

Professional Liability Insurance.

[Anonymous]

As with most things, context matters. Do you have any leverage to pushback? If so, do that. If not, then deal with it and look for a new job.

I was also in this situation (promotion responsibilities but no sf 50) and it was awful. And like a PP, they ended up moving a crony into the position after I had done a great job for a year. I left soon after, with a promotion. So the experience did help me long term, but it was done poorly and left a very bad taste.

Do what works for you. What I also learned is that the more you jump to meet expectations for people, the more some people expect. Like, you could do the work of 10 people with 7 by working nonstop and maybe make a minor error. Or you could push back and say, we won’t meet X deadline because we are short 3 people. The responses to both were more similar than I expected and it actually felt like I got more respect for saying I could not make the deadline for xyz reason. Of course, that was all pre-2024 so I don’t know if that would work now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As with most things, context matters. Do you have any leverage to pushback? If so, do that. If not, then deal with it and look for a new job.

I was also in this situation (promotion responsibilities but no sf 50) and it was awful. And like a PP, they ended up moving a crony into the position after I had done a great job for a year. I left soon after, with a promotion. So the experience did help me long term, but it was done poorly and left a very bad taste.

Do what works for you. What I also learned is that the more you jump to meet expectations for people, the more some people expect. Like, you could do the work of 10 people with 7 by working nonstop and maybe make a minor error. Or you could push back and say, we won’t meet X deadline because we are short 3 people. The responses to both were more similar than I expected and it actually felt like I got more respect for saying I could not make the deadline for xyz reason. Of course, that was all pre-2024 so I don’t know if that would work now.

And of course you owe it to your staff not to commit them to meeting arbitrary and unrealistic deadlines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they cut you a SF-50 for your role? Or is it just a memorandum from management saying Joe is acting for now kinda thing? I am not sure if all agencies work the same, but I was acting Office Director (GS-15/SES) over a year. It started with "Joe is acting" which had 120-day limit (but can be extended to 240 days) but no SF-50 followed by "Joe is acting" with SF-50 which formalized my supervisor duties. With SF-50, you are a real supervisor with supervisory duties. Without SF-50, you don't have supervisory duties (just babysitters really). But, like I said, other agencies may work differently.

Nope, no SF-50 at all. They provided a formal memo outlining what I will be doing, which basically includes everything that a supv does. I’m doing timesheet, assigning, reviewing, and approving work, travel authorizations. Seems like this is a way to get around paying a 15 wage. I think they will plan to advertise the position eventually - maybe this will give me a leg up on the selection?

That sounds fishy. At my agency you couldn't do some of those without a formal SF-50.

+1, we would also require an SF-50 at mine. Does anyone know if lack of an SF-50 puts OP ar risk, e.g. if she authorizes something that gets questioned? Maybe the memo is enough.

OP, if you don't have fed supervisor insurance, you may want to look into that.

PP you are responding to. When I was acting, my org was pretty strict w/ can and can't aspect. I think (again at least in my org), not having official SF-50 put action manager at risk for the reasons you raised.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they cut you a SF-50 for your role? Or is it just a memorandum from management saying Joe is acting for now kinda thing? I am not sure if all agencies work the same, but I was acting Office Director (GS-15/SES) over a year. It started with "Joe is acting" which had 120-day limit (but can be extended to 240 days) but no SF-50 followed by "Joe is acting" with SF-50 which formalized my supervisor duties. With SF-50, you are a real supervisor with supervisory duties. Without SF-50, you don't have supervisory duties (just babysitters really). But, like I said, other agencies may work differently.

Nope, no SF-50 at all. They provided a formal memo outlining what I will be doing, which basically includes everything that a supv does. I’m doing timesheet, assigning, reviewing, and approving work, travel authorizations. Seems like this is a way to get around paying a 15 wage. I think they will plan to advertise the position eventually - maybe this will give me a leg up on the selection?

That sounds fishy. At my agency you couldn't do some of those without a formal SF-50.

+1, we would also require an SF-50 at mine. Does anyone know if lack of an SF-50 puts OP ar risk, e.g. if she authorizes something that gets questioned? Maybe the memo is enough.

OP, if you don't have fed supervisor insurance, you may want to look into that.

Yep I have liability insurance, but have yet to ever have a need to use it. I feel that I am going to work my tail off in this role and when it is advertised, I won’t get it. That all being said. The only thing I won’t be doing is the annual appraisal process. Other than that, I am pretty much doing the role.

[Anonymous]

I’ve been in an acting supervisory role for 6 months. They just keep extending my detail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they cut you a SF-50 for your role? Or is it just a memorandum from management saying Joe is acting for now kinda thing? I am not sure if all agencies work the same, but I was acting Office Director (GS-15/SES) over a year. It started with "Joe is acting" which had 120-day limit (but can be extended to 240 days) but no SF-50 followed by "Joe is acting" with SF-50 which formalized my supervisor duties. With SF-50, you are a real supervisor with supervisory duties. Without SF-50, you don't have supervisory duties (just babysitters really). But, like I said, other agencies may work differently.

Nope, no SF-50 at all. They provided a formal memo outlining what I will be doing, which basically includes everything that a supv does. I’m doing timesheet, assigning, reviewing, and approving work, travel authorizations. Seems like this is a way to get around paying a 15 wage. I think they will plan to advertise the position eventually - maybe this will give me a leg up on the selection?

That sounds fishy. At my agency you couldn't do some of those without a formal SF-50.

+1, we would also require an SF-50 at mine. Does anyone know if lack of an SF-50 puts OP ar risk, e.g. if she authorizes something that gets questioned? Maybe the memo is enough.

OP, if you don't have fed supervisor insurance, you may want to look into that.

Yep I have liability insurance, but have yet to ever have a need to use it. I feel that I am going to work my tail off in this role and when it is advertised, I won’t get it. That all being said. The only thing I won’t be doing is the annual appraisal process. Other than that, I am pretty much doing the role.

There is no reason to work your tail off in any government job at the moment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they cut you a SF-50 for your role? Or is it just a memorandum from management saying Joe is acting for now kinda thing? I am not sure if all agencies work the same, but I was acting Office Director (GS-15/SES) over a year. It started with "Joe is acting" which had 120-day limit (but can be extended to 240 days) but no SF-50 followed by "Joe is acting" with SF-50 which formalized my supervisor duties. With SF-50, you are a real supervisor with supervisory duties. Without SF-50, you don't have supervisory duties (just babysitters really). But, like I said, other agencies may work differently.

Nope, no SF-50 at all. They provided a formal memo outlining what I will be doing, which basically includes everything that a supv does. I’m doing timesheet, assigning, reviewing, and approving work, travel authorizations. Seems like this is a way to get around paying a 15 wage. I think they will plan to advertise the position eventually - maybe this will give me a leg up on the selection?

That sounds fishy. At my agency you couldn't do some of those without a formal SF-50.

+1, we would also require an SF-50 at mine. Does anyone know if lack of an SF-50 puts OP ar risk, e.g. if she authorizes something that gets questioned? Maybe the memo is enough.

OP, if you don't have fed supervisor insurance, you may want to look into that.

Yep I have liability insurance, but have yet to ever have a need to use it. I feel that I am going to work my tail off in this role and when it is advertised, I won’t get it. That all being said. The only thing I won’t be doing is the annual appraisal process. Other than that, I am pretty much doing the role.

There is no reason to work your tail off in any government job at the moment

I know, but I am somewhat terrified of the politicals and “SBOs” at my current organization.

[Anonymous]

I just wrapped up 240 days acting as an SES (no extra pay). Detail was 120, an extension to 240 is permitted, anything beyond that has to go to OPM for permission at SES level and then they have to pay you.

[Anonymous]

I have over 20 years as a federal supervisor and I would refuse an acting role with no SF-50 and not pay increase with this administration. There is nothing to gain by this.

[Anonymous]

I work in an agency like the OP, probably the same one. The attitude is that people are lucky to still have jobs and that acting supervisors are there because there is literally no one else left to do the job and it is considered "collateral duty" or "other duties as assigned". If you make a stink, the truthful answer is indeed, "if you don't like it you can quit".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they cut you a SF-50 for your role? Or is it just a memorandum from management saying Joe is acting for now kinda thing? I am not sure if all agencies work the same, but I was acting Office Director (GS-15/SES) over a year. It started with "Joe is acting" which had 120-day limit (but can be extended to 240 days) but no SF-50 followed by "Joe is acting" with SF-50 which formalized my supervisor duties. With SF-50, you are a real supervisor with supervisory duties. Without SF-50, you don't have supervisory duties (just babysitters really). But, like I said, other agencies may work differently.

Nope, no SF-50 at all. They provided a formal memo outlining what I will be doing, which basically includes everything that a supv does. I’m doing timesheet, assigning, reviewing, and approving work, travel authorizations. Seems like this is a way to get around paying a 15 wage. I think they will plan to advertise the position eventually - maybe this will give me a leg up on the selection?

That sounds fishy. At my agency you couldn't do some of those without a formal SF-50.

+1, we would also require an SF-50 at mine. Does anyone know if lack of an SF-50 puts OP ar risk, e.g. if she authorizes something that gets questioned? Maybe the memo is enough.

OP, if you don't have fed supervisor insurance, you may want to look into that.

Yep I have liability insurance, but have yet to ever have a need to use it. I feel that I am going to work my tail off in this role and when it is advertised, I won’t get it. That all being said. The only thing I won’t be doing is the annual appraisal process. Other than that, I am pretty much doing the role.

There is no reason to work your tail off in any government job at the moment

In government organizations that are not a line-item in the budget, yes these project-funded orgs exist (like NAVFAC), people who do not work their tail off usually will get laid off after a year or so.

[Anonymous]

Are you still doing your old job in addition to new job while you are "acting"?