Shipyard faces limits in filling open positions
Though the nation’s four naval shipyards were excluded two weeks ago from President Donald Trump’s federal hiring freeze, they can’t go back to filling positions at will.
The directive only lets them request exemptions for openings that are necessary for national security.
Trump issued the short-term hiring freeze Jan. 23. It will last 90 days, or until the Office of Management and Budget and Office of Personnel Management develop a long-term plan to reduce the federal workforce through attrition. The Department of Defense on Feb. 2 exempted 16 functions from the freeze, including shipyards, as necessary for national security and public safety. Not all shipyard openings will meet the definition.
“Exemptions may be granted only for positions deemed critical to the execution of the function listed,” Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work wrote in the DOD memo. They're to be used sparingly.
At Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, commander Capt. Howard Markle must decide whether a vacant position is necessary for the nation's security. The command will then submit an Exemption From Hiring Freeze Request electronically to justify each position. Acting Secretary of the Navy Sean Stackley will make the final decision.
"I will follow closely any actions taken with respect to implementation of the hiring freeze and will hold these officials accountable for the exemptions they grant," Work said.
Hiring has been halted while details are finalized.
“I think the question now is at what level do the exemptions need to be approved,” said Bill Couch of Naval Sea Systems Command, the shipyards' parent organization. "Can they be done in groups, or hiring action by hiring action specifically approved by somebody at the Department of Navy level or Department of Defense level?”
U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, wrote Friday to Stackley that the process is too slow and will delay hirings at least several weeks. It would be easier, less expensive and more in line with the intent of exemptions to establish an automatic process based on occupation code and command, he said. It also would be more responsible to the shipyard to push the decision down a rung or more.
The shipyard provided a statement and referred other questions to higher authorities.
“Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility, like other commands and agencies in the Department of Defense, is complying with the executive order on federal hiring,” the statement said. “We are working in accordance with the Department of Defense on the exemption process.”
The shipyard is positioning itself for when it can hire again. It still can post job announcements, conduct interviews and review applicants. It just can't make job offers. It also can hire candidates who were notified before Jan. 22 that they'd been hired and who were given a starting date before Feb. 22.
The hiring freeze, which doesn't apply to the military, is designed to counter what the White House sees as a dramatic expansion of the federal workforce in recent years. The workforce increased from 1,862,000 in 2007 to 2,130,00 in 2011 before falling back to 2,059,000 in 2015, the final year available, after cutbacks forced by sequestration and budget reductions. It has slowly and steadily declined over the past 50 years.
By: Ed Friedrich
Source: Kitsap Sun