If you have any new ideas for articles and you would like to see them in this newsletter, please send your ideas to

Transcription

1 CIVILIAN PERSONNEL NEWS VOL 09-12, 22 DEC 2009 INCLUDED IN THIS ISSUE: --Air Force New Employee Orientation (NEO) Training --Pay Setting Tips For NSPS Positions --Winter Weather Season is Approaching --Hierarchy Updates --Implementation Hiring Authority for Noncompetitive Appointment of Certain Military Spouses --Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Work Injury Claims Go Electronic --Claimant Query System for Injured Workers --S.H.A.R.E Working Group Convenes to Help Injured Workers --Updating Civilian Career Brief --BEST Subscription Service & Newsletter Opportunity --Antiterrorism Awareness (Level 1) Training (Mandatory) --New Online Retirement Planning Courses Offered to Civilian Employees --Retirement Procedures for Employees and Supervisors --My Biz --Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP) --Annual Leave/Restoration Policy Information --Certification of Legacy Civilian Performance Plans --Voluntary Civilian Annual Leave Donations Requested TO SERVE YOU BETTER WE REQUEST ALL CUSTOMERS CALL AHEAD AND MAKE AN APPOINTMENT THE CIVILIAN PERSONNEL SECTION MAIN NUMBER IS If you have any new ideas for articles and you would like to see them in this newsletter, please send your ideas to BENEFITS QUESTIONS Just a reminder that questions concerning your retirement status and other benefits should be directed to the folks at BEST, CIVILIAN PERSONNEL TRAININIG SEMINARS

2 AIR FORCE NEW EMPLOYEE ORIENTATION (NEO) TRAINING Effective 9 Aug 09, all new permanent, term, or employees hired under the Student Enhancement Career program are required to complete the Air Force New Employee Orientation (NEO) Training within 90 days of appointment. The purpose of this training is to ensure AF Civilians receive a solid foundation in Air Force topics regardless of grade, pay band, function or location. The course consists of eight online modules: Air Force Heritage (12 min), Air Force Core Competencies (1 hr), Air Force Customs and Courtesies (1 hr), Force Development (1 hr), Health, Safety and Security (1 hr), Personnel Administration (1 hr), and AF Core Values (1 hr). Upon completion of all eight modules, the civilian will be awarded a pin from the Civilian Training Section. This pin represents the AF Civilians values toward the organization and the mission. New employees who are retired military are only required to complete the Personnel Administration and Force Development modules. However, in order for them to receive a pin, they will need to complete all 8 modules. Retirees will need to select the AF Retired Military Only section to complete the two required modules. To gain access to the AF NEO Course through AF Knowledge Now (AFKN), use the following link If you are new to AFKN, you will need an AFKN Account prior to registering for the modules. Follow the directions below to create an account. Direct.mil access to AFKN from a military PC requires a CAC login. Go to Within AFKN Links you will see Create AFKN - click and follow directions Once the AFKN account is created, go to If you have any questions, please contact Randy in the Civilian Training Office at PAY SETTING TIPS FOR NSPS POSITIONS The National Security Personnel System (NSPS) compensation system is flexible and delegates many compensation decisions to managers. With this flexibility comes the responsibility to make sound business decisions. Some of the considerations that should be made in setting pay are: Acquisition of competencies/skills Degree of Difficulty to Fill Vacancy Degree of Directly Related Work Experience or Education Versus that of Peers Competencies Versus Job Requirements Breadth of Competencies Versus that of Peers Current Pay Level Within the Salary Range Other Salary Offers Compared to Pay Band Consider current total compensation vs. government salary and benefits Consider internal equity Consider fiscal realities Tip sheets that break these elements further down can be found on the NSPS Connect website under the managers resources section: When submitting a request for personnel action (RPA) to the Civilian Personnel Section, the RPA checklist must contain salary information. For ranges, please do not submit the entire pay band as the desired range; try to narrow down your criteria. We also remind managers to follow their organizational procedures for getting salaries approved; whether it is by pay pool manager, finance department, management board, etc.

3 WINTER WEATHER SEASON IS APPROACHING Employees should educate themselves with the base inclement weather policy. Attached is the Wing Commander's policy as well as a helpful chart for charging leave. Inclement Weather Policy.doc HIERARCHY UPDATES Please submit all hierarchy updates to the 21 FSS Manpower Office they are responsible for updating the Hierarchy for all organizations on Peterson AFB. In order to update the hierarchy we need name and sequence numbers of supervisors and employees this information can be found on your most current SF50 as the CPCN. NOTE: Any time an action is taken at AFPC the civilian employees sequence number will change and it may sever the connection in the hierarchy. Military Supervisors may need a record built for hierarchy access. NOTE: It would be helpful to know if one military supervisor is replacing another military supervisor who may already have a sequence number which can be reused. NSPS is still with Civilian Personnel so if the hierarchy is correct it may need some tweaking on the NSPS side of the system. IMPLEMENTATION HIRING AUTHORITY FOR NONCOMPETITIVE APPOINTMENT OF CERTAIN MILITARY SPOUSES Executive Order 13473, dated September 25, 2008, authorizes noncompetitive appointment in the civil service for spouses of certain members of the armed forces. The authority became effective September 11, It can be used to noncompetitively appoint eligible spouses to temporary, term, or permanent competitive service positions with the provisions of 5 CFR and 5 CFR 316. The intent is to provide employment access for certain individuals negatively impacted by their military spouses relocation, incapacitation, or death. There is no grade-level limitation on positions filled; however, selecting officials must request this hiring authority when recruitment is initiated. Spouses must apply to a job announcement on USAJOBS and must be qualified for the position. Spouses are eligible for a noncompetitive appointment under this authority for a maximum of 2 years from the date of 1) service member s permanent change of station orders 2) documentation verifying the member of the armed forces is 100% disabled or 3) documentation verifying the member of the armed forces was killed while on active duty. Documentation will be required at time of appointment. For additional guidance on this subject contact Peterson AFB Civilian Personnel Office at (719) ELECTRIC DATA INTERCHANGE (EDI) WORK INJURY CLAIMS GO ELECTRONIC It has been DoD s policy since July 2003 that supervisors utilize EDI when filing claims for federal employees who sustain either a work related injury or occupational disease. EDI is a web-based system that supervisors use for filing federal workers compensation claims electronically. The benefits of using EDI to both the agency and the employee are: Increased Timeliness of Filing Faster Turnaround on Claim Numbers Decreased Errors on Paperwork Meets DoD SHARE Goals Automatic Reporting to Safety Offices

4 EDI allows supervisors to access the Notice of Traumatic Injury/Occupational Illness claim forms in an electronic form and once completed, submit those forms with just the click of a button. It has previously been the Civilian Personnel Section that inputs these claims electronically but in accordance with regulations supervisors will now be responsible for submitting all claims for traumatic injuries and occupational disease claims through EDI. To receive a copy of the training materials please contact your organizations servicing generalist at the Civilian Personnel Office. There is also online training at: The supervisor s link for accessing EDI and inputting workers compensation claims can be found at: CLAIMANT QUERY SYSTEM FOR INJURED WORKERS On June 9, 2009 the Department of Labor (DOL) held their Office of Workers Compensation Programs (OWCP) Interagency meeting. One of the topics discussed was their deployment of the Claimant Query System (CQS). CQS allows an injured employee the ability to access information regarding their own claim such as: benefits payments, benefits tracking, medical bill status, case status history, accepted conditions, employing agency information, and CA-16 information. The information in CQS is not as extensive as the Automated Query System (AQS) which is used by the installations Injury Compensation Program Administrator but provides individual claimants the ability to view when the DOL/OWCP has issued a check in the case, provides the amount of the payment, annotates whether or not OWCP has received and logged in a CA-7, etc. In AQS, the payment history screen provides the ICPA with more detailed payment information such as the basis for the amount of the check issued - pay rate, compensation rate, health benefits deductions, etc. S.H.A.R.E. WORKING GROUP CONVENES TO HELP INJURED WORKERS The Safety, Health and Return to Employment Working Group are once again meeting on Peterson AFB. This group meets monthly to discuss employees out on workers compensation for long periods of time to determine working potential. If managers are interesting in employing a disabled worker, please contact Alisha in the Civilian Personnel Section, UPDATING CIVILIAN CAREER BRIEF Air Force employees who have been on board for at least 90 days should log on to the AFPC Secure Website and click on "Civilian Career Brief". The career brief will give you information on your work history, training and education, awards, service computation date, etc. The URL is LICENSE, LANGUAGE, AND OCCUPATIONAL CERTIFICATION CODING Submit license, language, and occupational certification update requests using Optional Application for Federal Employment (OF 612). Please fax your request to AFPC/DPCL at DSN or Commercial (210) EDUCATION CODING You can now update your education level in My Biz. Please follow instructions in My Biz. You will still be required to submit your official transcripts via fax to AFPC/DPCL at DSN or Commercial (210) so they may be scanned into your official personnel file (OPF). TRAINING CODING All training claimed on your resume should be coded by AFPC. Employees should contact Randy, 21FSS/FSDE at for procedures for updating training that has occurred since your appointment action.

5 AWARDS Rosemarie, 21FSS/FSMPS, updates all civilian awards. If you have any questions about awards that should be on your Career Brief, please contact her at: EXPERIENCE CODING Depending on the nature of the changes you are requesting, there are specific steps you will need to follow. Complete form OF 612 and bring it to the Civilian Personnel Section. Please call for instructions. BEST SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE & NEWSLETTER OPPORTUNITY The AFPC Benefits team encourages all employees to sign up for their subscription service on their web page. Please go to the link to register. Select the link titled "Newsletter Subscription service". Follow the guidance listed on how to subscribe or unsubscribe. The current BEST Newsletter is also found on the link titled "Newsletters and Bulletins". Lastly, pay attention to the section titled "Spotlight" since that is where BEST will post current changes or information regarding benefits. ANTITERRORISM AWARENESS (LEVEL 1) TRAINING (MANDATORY) All new civilian employees are required to attend this training. If you are prior military and have separated within the last year, you do not need to attend. Training is held the first and third Friday of the month (excluding Federal Holidays) at 10:00 AM in building 350, room 1047 on Peterson AFB. Please contact Earl at if you have questions about eligibility or course content. NEW ONLINE RETIREMENT PLANNING COURSES OFFERED TO CIVILIAN EMPLOYEES RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas Three new online courses for federal civilian employees offer training in the benefit-related areas of retirement, financial planning, and new employee orientation. The training is available on the automated Employee Benefits Information System (EBIS) web program under eseminars and it will be a benefit to all Air Force-serviced civilian employees at all stages of their careers. To take the eseminars, civilian employees need access to EBIS via the Air Force Portal: or the Air Force Personnel Center Ask web site Once logged into EBIS, click on the eseminars icon at the top of the screen to see the list of courses available. Employees with questions about the eseminars or EBIS can also contact BEST, the 24-hour Air Force Contact Center, at (800) RETIREMENT PROCEDURES FOR EMPLOYEES AND SUPERVISORS EMPLOYEE: Set Your Retirement Date. If doing a voluntary retirement, this is the date of your choosing however it is important to keep in mind which retirement system you fall under in order to make sure you get paid correctly and in a timely manner. FERS set your date at the end of a pay period or the end of the month. CSRS set your date prior to the 4 th of the month. 2. Contact the Benefits and Entitlements Team (BEST) approximately 90 days prior to your desired retirement date. Contact them at to:

6 Get your retirement estimate Identify the forms that you will need to submit in your retirement package Find out what option is best for you Have any questions answered 3. As Instructed by BEST, Mail the Retirement Package to BEST. BEST requests that all packages are sent at least 90 days prior because of the high volume of requests. Mail your package to: HQ AFPC/DPIRB, 550 C Street West Ste 57, Randolph AFB TX SF-52. Coordinate with your supervisor to have an electronic SF-52 submitted to 21 FSS/FSMC (still shows as DPCE) via DCPDS your unit s civilian personnel liaison can give you guidance on this process. This should be submitted NLT 90 days prior to retirement date. 5. Contact Civilian Personnel to Make Out-processing Appointment. This should be done AFTER you have contacted BEST and approximately 30 days prior to your retirement date. POC is Michelle, or PetersonStaffing@peterson.af.mil. *Note: Everything is now done between the employee, BEST, and the organization. The only Civilian Personnel Section involvement is processing the electronic SF-52 and out-processing the employee. SUPERVISOR/ORGANIZATION: 1. Submit Electronic SF-52 to the Civilian Personnel Office. This should be sent approximately days prior to the retirement date. 2. Request Presidential Letter. ONLY if a person has 30+ years of service. This can include military time. The form attached must be submitted 60 days prior to the employee s retirement date. If it is received later than 60 days prior, there is a possibility the letter may not be received in time. Contact Michelle at PetersonStaffing@peterson.af.mil or fax to Obtain Retirement Certificate from Graphics. You will need to know the number of years the employee has worked. This does NOT include military service. Employee s organization will submit AF IMT 833 Multimedia Work Order to graphics. The form can either be faxed to or hand-carried to building 418. If the employee is married, you can also use the same form to obtain a Certificate of Appreciation for the spouse. This must be done NLT 5 days prior to ceremony. MY BIZ Randolph Air Force Base, Texas Air Force civilian employees who wish to update education information in their civilian personnel records have a new, easier way to do so: through the My Biz web site. My Biz is the self-service module in the Defense Civilian Personnel Data System. Instead of faxing their transcripts and waiting for someone to update their record, employees can now do it themselves. The Air Force, in conjunction with the Department of Defense, has been working to streamline and automate the manual processes of updating education, training and special qualifications (certifications and professional licenses) into a web-based self-service capability, said Kathryn Houston from the Civilian Future Operations Branch at the Air Force Personnel Center. Now, in addition to updating work and home telephone numbers, addresses, handicap codes, ethnicity and national origin, and language, employees can update their education through My Biz and it is immediately reflected in their personnel record. In the future, My Biz will provide even more update capabilities. The goal is to provide faster and smarter service to employees by giving them the ability to go in and update their important career information themselves, so it can be immediately reflected in their personnel record.

7 Prior to this change, employees could update some personal information, but not education. They had to follow a process that included completing sections of an OF 612 and faxing copies of transcripts to the Air Force Manpower Agency who then put the information into the system. Now employees can update their own education information. They will only be required to provide Personnel a transcript if Personnel has a legal or regulatory requirement to verify the education entry based on the qualification standards, or if a position requires a degree or a specified number of course hours (this is often referred to as a positive education requirement). This procedural change will enable civilian employees to update their education information directly by assessing My Biz < For more information, visit AFPC s Ask web site and search for Education Updates or call the 24-hour Air Force Contact Center at (800) VOLUNTARY LEAVE TRANSFER PROGRAM (VLTP) Each year many employees with use-or lose annual leave submit applications to donate leave to employees who have been approved to receive donated leave. Are you one of those employees with use-or-lose leave that you would like to donate? If so, you should be aware that the law says the maximum amount of annual leave you may donate is the lesser of (1) one-half of the amount of annual leave you were entitled to accrue during the leave year in which you make the donation or (2) the number of hours remaining in the leave year, as the date of leave transfer, for which you are scheduled to work and receive pay. For example, if you were entitled to accrue 160 hours of annual leave in 2009, then the maximum amount of annual leave you may donate under restriction (1) would be 80 hours. However if on the date of leave transfer you have 80 hours of use-or-lose leave, and if you are scheduled to work only 16 more hours during the remainder of the leave year, then you may not transfer more than 16 hours of annual leave because of restriction (2). Since you may not donate more than the lesser of these two amounts, you would only be able to donate 16 hours of annual leave. Furthermore, if you can use all the remaining 64 hours (80-16 = 64) of use-or-lose leave before the end of the of the leave year you will forfeit the unused hours. The 2009 leave year ends on 2 Jan 10. Donation must be received not later than close of business on Monday 28 Dec 09. The Civilian Personnel Section maintains current listings of recipients for the VLTP. If you have use-or-lose leave that you would like to donate, please take the above rule into consideration when determining how much leave to donate and when you may donate it. ANNUAL LEAVE/RESTORATION POLICY INFORMATION Civilian employees are reminded that generally the maximum amount of annual leave they may carry forward from one leave year to the next is 240 hours. Current law requires forfeiture of annual leave, in excess of the ceiling limitation, at the end of the leave year 02 Jan 10. The provisions for restoring forfeited leave are strictly enforced. For this reason, employees are encouraged to take appropriate action to prevent the forfeiture of their annual leave. If leave is forfeited, it may be possible to request restoration. The first requirement for restoration is that the leave must have been originally requested, approved, and scheduled in writing prior to the start of the third biweekly pay period before the end of the leave year. Thus, all use-or-lose annual leave for year 2009 must be requested, approved, and scheduled before 22 Nov 09, to be eligible for restoration should it be forfeited. Before forfeited annual leave may be restored there must also be a determination that either an exigency of major importance occurred or sickness of the employee caused the forfeiture. As soon as a supervisor learns that leave subject to forfeiture must be canceled due to an exigency, s/he must initiate 21 SW Form 298 (Request for Approval of Exigency) to the appropriate official requesting approval to cancel the scheduled leave. At a minimum, the request should include a description of the exigency, which shows that it is of such importance that the employee could not be excused from duty. If appropriate, an employee then initiates a written request for restoration within 30 calendar days after the end of the leave year. Leave restorations are coordinated with the Civilian Personnel Section to ensure that the conditions for restoration in governing directives are met, and that submitted documentation supports the requests. Restoration of forfeited annual leave is addressed in AFI , Absence and Leave, Chapter 2. POC: Human Resources Specialist

8 CERTIFICATION OF LEGACY CIVILIAN PERFORMANCE PLANS Supervisors are encouraged to review each of their civilian employees legacy performance plans to verify that they have been certified by the employee, the rating official and the reviewing official for the current civilian rating period. The current rating period started on 1 Apr 09 and closes on 31 Mar 10. At the beginning of each rating period, supervisors should meet with each employee to review and discuss the employee s performance elements and standards. In addition, each employee who enters a new position or who is temporarily assigned for 120 days or more should be given a written performance plan. These plans should normally be certified within 30 days of the beginning of each appraisal cycle, and within 30 days of the date an employee enters a new position or is temporarily assigned for 120 days or more. If performance plans have not been certified for the current rating period, supervisors should do so now. An AF Form 860 should be used unless an Air Force Core Personnel Document (COREDOC) has been created for the position. In this situation, the COREDOC should be used to evaluate the employee s performance and a separate work plan should not be developed since this defeats the purpose of a COREDOC. Any change to the COREDOC must be coordinated through the Classification Section and no changes to performance plans should be made within the last 90 days of the rating period, i.e., after 31 Dec 09. Finally, supervisors are encouraged to contact their servicing Human Resources Specialist as soon as a performance problem develops. Do not wait until the end of the rating period to take action. Please call (719) for the name and telephone number of your organization s servicing Human Resources Specialist. VOLUNTARY CIVILIAN ANNUAL LEAVE DONATIONS REQUESTED Voluntary Leave Transfer Program (VLTP) - Donations Requested: Civilian annual leave donations are needed for current civil service employees. If you have questions about the program, who has requested donations, or would like to donate annual leave, please contact PetersonStaffing@peterson.af.mil.