Federal manager lied about promotions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the fed. They couldn't time that release to your vacation.

Seriously. Although your victimhood mindset says a whole lot about your character. I'm really thrilled that you're working as a Fed. Wow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Today was the last day to apply--I just submitted.

I did consider that it's impossible for management to control the timing. In fact, I thought the openings were for two hard-to-fill positions for which there has been a desperate need for nearly a year. But neither of those can be filled from staff within our office--a requirement listed--and the duties listed in the job posting just don't match.

And I've seen strings pulled for favored staff.

Is it possible that my manager wants to promote me but chose not to say anything in the event that it couldn't happen? I don't really understand how these things work, but I'd prefer to give benefit of the doubt than believe manager is a foul liar.

As I typed this, I received notice that my application is incomplete because I haven't submitted a DD-214. That's a notice of discharge from active duty--something I don't have. Feels like this is rigged for failure.

So then you aren't qualified. Agreed you sound whiny and entitled to the extreme. Oh and i love how you think they added thay form as a requirement just so you wouldn't get the job. What a joke.

[Anonymous]

Dude, get back on your schizo meds

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When your manager tells you there is no money for promotion for you to the next level, he is talking about your job grade ladder and the agency having money to promote employees up the ladder to the next grade.

The agency having money for two new positions (what are called "FTEs" or full time equivalents) is an entirely different process that may have begun years before you arrived. You are mixing apples and oranges. Your boss is probably telling the truth -- no money for promotions. Money for selections/new positions is a different pot of money and a different process.

Agreed. In point of fact, it is quite possible that the job is not meant for any of the 3 of you. In my agency, when a department wants to hire new people, they have to create the job description and post it for a minimum of 5 days to allow internal applicants first, before they can repost it open for the public. Your boss may have created this job description anywhere from six months to three years ago. Does the job description match the job you were hired for? It's also possible that they reused the job description from when you were hired and just increasing the GS level. He submitted the request that he needs two new FTEs and then it goes into the bureaucracy and he has no control over when it comes out. And the fact that these jobs just came out after mid-year reviews is coincidental. If any of the existing staff does apply and get hired into those positions, then the existing job will be advertised and backfilled, but it will have to go through the same procedure, open for 5 days for internal agency applications and then opened to the public. I've seen this happen many, many times over the years I've worked at this agency.

[Anonymous]

OP is a paranoid freak

[Anonymous]

They should demote op to gs 1

[Anonymous]

OP

Why don't you get your DD 214 paperwork and apply for other all source GS13 positions you qualify for and get veterans preference? Wouldn't this be in your eOPF?

[Anonymous]

OP, ignore the ignorant jackasses who are slamming you. Agree the DD-214 should be in your eOPF. When promotions were going to happen in my office, my boss gave me heads up. If you don't get it, I'd ask why. You deserve to understand why you're not moving forward while others are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If the position does meet the higher standards you can always formally review a desk audit and the result could be that it says you're doing GS13 work, so they then have to either promote you or reassign some tasks to take your position back to a 12 level. You could also theoretically have an audit say your work does not support your current grade but that sounds unlikely in this situation.

Hmm. I've never heard of this. How is a desk audit conducted? Is it just through HR, or is the manager also involved? I saw one duty in the description that I don't perform, but that's only because someone else does it (One of the people I believe will be promoted) and it's a really simple task--something an intern could do. I've certainly done work that's above and beyond my own job description, but if proving that involves asking the manager, I'm certain he'll lie.

And that would really piss me off because our PMAPS in this group are regarded as "just a formality" and something never actually reviewed or discussed. At review time, I go in and "have a conversation" about my work and at the end of it, the manager pushes a piece of paper at me and says my signature just confirms that we've had the conversation. The bullet points are basically the same as my job description--extremely vague--and I'm told "we all do work beyond the job description." But nothing in the paper is reviewed or discuseed and I don't even have a copy of it.

So should I be disputing that practice? I have at least two other coworkers who have expressed their anger that they're not getting the review they deserve based on the extra work that they do, and they're signing a piece of paper that they don't even get to review and discuss first.

I've heard rumors that supervisors in our group are getting reward and promotion based on this "extra work" that underlings are doing while the underlings remain at the same level for years and years. If I could prove that, where would I take it? In fact, there's a lot of managerial abuse at this agency. I often think of it as "Lord of the Flies" because there is so much abuse but our low profile means it flies under the radar. Plenty of people have filed grievance and lost against our big parent agency, and it pretty much discourages anyone from taking action against some really egregious wrongs.

Both HR and the managers are involved. They will go over your work including specific examples that you will have to provide to justify the complexity of your work and show at what level you operate (eg staff-to-staff work is usually GS 12-13, staff-to-management at a Division Director level (IIRC) helps support a 14, but for a 15 as a staffer you have to be dealing with fairly senior managers (briefing and advising)).

If 25% of your work is at the level supporting the higher grade or is expected to be, then you should qualify for it (see the OPM requirements that will tell you how a classifier will conclude that your position is Type X, Level Y, and from there go to the matrix that says what GS grade it should be).

Criteria for managers are different (different job standards), though of course they are in part classified & evaluated by the work their staff does. But the staff also should be getting credit for that work. I'm not sure what you're trying to say there, are you saying managers are doing staff work that staff could or should be doing?

If the issues you're thinking about constitute "waste, fraud or abuse" you can contact the Inspector General, that's their jurisdiction (improper application of personnel procedures can be included there).

Desk audits are a crap shoot because they can cut both ways, it's less likely as a 12 but I have heard of 14's asking for desk audits (thinking they should be 15s) and the audit says they're doing 13 work. Then it's up to management to provide them the 14 work or the grade is in jeopardy.

One concept of classification that has been lost/ignored/forgotten is that a grade classification can change over time. If you're a 13-14 attorney working on a big complex case and it ends, if you don't replace that portion of your work with similarly complex work you theoretically can jeopardize your grade. In practice it rarely plays out like this but in coming years with budget pressures, it may. The classification is not like getting tenure, you have to keep doing work at that level (and your supervisors are responsible for spreading the, e.g., GS14 level work, among those at that grade).

[Anonymous]

I sympathize with OP. coming from private sector the govt is a Byzantine place with nonsensical rules and processes. IMO it's a place where everyone is out for themselves and there is no such thing as having

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP

Why don't you get your DD 214 paperwork and apply for other all source GS13 positions you qualify for and get veterans preference? Wouldn't this be in your eOPF?

I think OP meant she doesn't have th form because she's not a veteran.

It's basically impossible to get hired against someone with veterans preference (unless you can show they're not qualified).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You sound like a high-maintenance, whiny, pain-in-the-ass, bitter, and ignorant employee.

I agree - and you're not helping your case with your lack of understanding and the 18 unrelated complaints you've added.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I sympathize with OP. coming from private sector the govt is a Byzantine place with nonsensical rules and processes. IMO it's a place where everyone is out for themselves and there is no such thing as having

Some rules are nonsensical, some are not. I don't think that requiring that someone continue to do work at a level of complexity that supports a higher pay grade (and that managers ensure that their staff have work appropriate to their grade) is necessarily byzantine or nonsensical, I think it's good stewardship of public funds (I was a Fed for 26 yrs., a manager for 20+).

[Anonymous]

Look, I get it. I work for the government too and sometimes the nonsensical policies and practices are frustrating beyond belief. But it doesn't sound like your boss did anything wrong or has a vendetta against you. Being a GS-12 for 3 years does not entitle you to an internal promotion. You have to actively advocate for yourself and check USAJOBS for new opportunities. Even with the sequester there should be options for upward mobility if you seek them out instead of expecting your boss to hand them to you.

[Anonymous]

You have to actively advocate for yourself and check USAJOBS for new opportunities. Even with the sequester there should be options for upward mobility if you seek them out instead of expecting your boss to hand them to you.

I'm not expecting anything but a fair shot. I have daily searches on USA Jobs and this posting was not among them. If we hadn't been told over and over that there's no money for hiring, promotion or reward then I'd accept that it just happened the way it happened, no foul play. But as I said there are only three people who can compete for the two positions--they're only open to people within our office--and I'm way more qualified than the other two. None of us is a veteran so the application shouldn't require a DD 215 to be considered complete.

Thanks for helpful answers. I've never been a "that's not my job" kind of employee, but now have a much better understanding why that attitude is so prevalent.