Section 1.
This article establishes the requirements governing the review and evaluation for promotion of employees occupying career ladder positions in the bargaining unit. The Library recognizes that the opportunity for advancement to positions of increasing responsibility and pay is an important aspect in providing career development, and that the retention of qualified employees is essential to the performance of the CRS mission. The Library subscribes to the policy of providing training and experience which will enable employees to assume progressively more responsible duties and permit employees who have successfully performed duties at the next higher level to advance to the higher grade without competition. Promotions shall be made in accordance with applicable law, regulation, and this Agreement.
All promotion reviews for employees in professional positions shall cover work performed during the year preceding the eligibility or anniversary date; however, a staff member may elect to include additional work going back to eighteen months prior to the eligibility or anniversary date. Promotion reviews for all other employees shall cover at least six and not more than nine months prior to the eligibility or anniversary date.
The Library shall not reward or penalize employees in promotion reviews for time spent engaged in activities authorized under law and this collective bargaining agreement.
Section 2.
Promotion under this Section shall be based on an employee meeting time-in-grade requirements and demonstrating sustained fully successful performance at the next higher grade level. The Library shall give the Associate or Assistant Director, the supervisor, and the employee at least ninety (90) days prior written notice of the promotion review eligibility or anniversary date. Each employee will have access to all bargaining unit position descriptions.
Section 3.
Normally no later than 180 days prior to an employee’s anniversary date the supervisor and employee will meet and discuss what is expected of the employee in order to be promoted to the next higher level. This discussion will include evidence of work at the next higher grade level. Such evidence may include providing examples of work at that level. Upon request, the Library shall provide the employee with any written standards or guidelines accompanying standards that are used as criteria for promotion for the employee’s current grade and the next higher grade. Employees are encouraged to engage their supervisor as needed in an effort to clarify any ambiguities.
Employees currently performing at a minimally successful level are ineligible for promotion review.
At least seventy five (75) days prior to the eligibility or anniversary date for employees in professional positions, or forty five (45) days prior to the eligibility or anniversary date for all other employees, the employee shall submit his or her work files and records of research, reference, or other work performed during the evaluation period to the immediate supervisor or Associate or Assistant Director for evaluation for promotion. Upon written request, employees will be granted an extension of up to 60 days for submission of their work files and records; any such extension will delay all subsequent management deadlines and the effective date of any resulting promotion by the same time period. Employees who do not produce work files or records shall be entitled to submit a written summary of work performed during the period under evaluation. Employees who have been on detail for any part of the review period shall be entitled to submit a summary of work performed during that detail. Employees may also submit a memorandum stating their reasons for believing that a promotion is justified in terms of the factors appropriate for making the promotion decision. Should the employee, for justifiable reasons, fail to meet the deadline for submission of these materials, the subsequent deadlines for division and department level management may be postponed on a day-for-day basis.
Following submission of the work file and other records, the Associate or Assistant Director and/or his/her designee shall meet with the employee to discuss the employee’s work in terms of progress, CRS promotion criteria, and his or her readiness for promotion. The employee shall be given the opportunity until the end of the next work day following this meeting to provide additional evidence or reasons supporting a positive recommendation for promotion.
Following this meeting, the Associate or Assistant Director or other appropriate official shall certify on the prescribed form that the employee is “Recommended for Promotion” or “Not Recommended for Promotion at This Time.” This form shall be transmitted to the Office of Workforce Management and Development, and a copy given to the employee, no later than 45 days in advance of the eligibility or anniversary date of an employee in a professional position, or 15 days in advance of the eligibility or anniversary date of all other employees.
Any unjustifiable failure of an employee to meet the specified deadline for submitting his/her work file or other records of work for promotion review shall absolve management of any obligation under this Section or Section 4 to meet deadlines specified for management. However, management shall process the promotion review in a reasonable period of time following submission of the file.
Section 4.
When the Associate or Assistant Director or designee rates an employee as “Recommended for Promotion,” the recommendation shall be forwarded to the Office of Workforce Management and Development.
The Director or designee shall determine whether the employee’s work demonstrates sustained fully successful performance at the next higher grade level. If so, the prescribed Personnel Action Recommendation (PAR) shall be prepared. For employees in professional positions, decisions under this Section shall be made no later than 15 days prior to the eligibility or anniversary date. In the case of reviews following rescission of a waiver, such decisions shall be made within 30 days of receiving the Associate or Assistant Director’s or designee’s recommendation. In the case of recommendations for all other employees, the determination that the recommendation conforms to the requirements of the grade level proposed, and the preparation of PARs, shall be done upon receipt of the Associate or Assistant Director’s or designee’s recommendation.
Section 5.
Employees who are rated “Not Recommended for Promotion at This Time,” after review and evaluation by the Associate or Assistant Director or designee, shall be given the reasons for the recommendation and what the employee should do to be rated “Recommended for Promotion.” A meeting of the employee and the Associate or Assistant Director and/or recommending official will be held to discuss the written statement. The parties believe that it is in the best interests of the employee to understand clearly the reasons for the recommendation and what the employee should do to be rated “Recommended for Promotion”; therefore, the Associate or Assistant Director and/or recommending official shall give the employee ample opportunity in this meeting to raise questions and seek clarification and understanding about these matters. The employee shall thereafter be provided with the opportunity to demonstrate ability to perform at the next higher level.
An employee in a professional position who has not been recommended for promotion at the eligibility or first anniversary review shall be notified of his/her right to request a mid-term review within six months (three months for employees not in professional positions) after the eligibility or first anniversary review. An employee must request the mid-term review by memorandum via the immediate supervisor to the Associate or Assistant Director or designee with a copy to the Office of Workforce Management and Development by four months (two months for employees in non-professional positions) after the date of the eligibility or first anniversary review, and must submit the work file or other records of work within five months (two and one-half months for employees in non-professional positions) after the date of the eligibility or first anniversary review. The Associate or Assistant Director or other appropriate official shall complete the review and shall certify on the prescribed form by six months after the date of the eligibility or first anniversary review (for employees in professional positions) or by three months after (for employees in non-professional positions) that the employee is “Recommended for Promotion” or “Not Recommended for Promotion at This Time.” In this written statement the Associate or Assistant Director or designee shall indicate the reasons for his/her recommendation and, if appropriate, what the employee should do to be rated “Recommended for Promotion.” This form shall be transmitted to the Office of Workforce Management and Development and a copy given to the employee.
Section 6.
An employee who has been informed by the Associate or Assistant Director or designee that his/her level of performance does not warrant promotion may, within thirty (30) days of the date he/she was so informed, request in writing that his/her work be reviewed at the department level by a panel of three management officials appointed by the Director. The panel shall include, but not be limited to, Associate or Assistant Directors, Deputy Associate or Assistant Directors, or other supervisors. One official shall have professional or subject-matter knowledge of the employee’s area of specialization or discipline. The employee may be represented by the Association. The review shall be based on the written record, which shall consist of the work file or other evidence of work, any memo(s) from the employee justifying the promotion, and any memo(s) on the issue by division management which the employee has seen and has had an opportunity to respond to in writing. The departmental panel charged with this responsibility may have discussions with division management regarding the substance of the submitted promotion file. If such discussions are held, the employee and his/her representative will be given the same opportunity. The departmental management panel charged with this responsibility shall complete the review of an employee’s work submitted under this section within 30 days after receipt of the request. If the departmental management panel agrees that the work does not meet the requirements for promotion, the employee shall be informed in writing of the decision, the reasons therefor, and what is needed to be promoted. If the departmental management panel finds that the work meets the requirements for promotion, it will forward that recommendation to the Director for final decision. If the Director disagrees with the panel’s recommendation, a written explanation will be provided.
Section 7.
Employees who remain in grade after two scheduled promotion reviews (not including any mid-term review) may waive subsequent promotion reviews after a scheduled discussion with the Associate or Assistant Director or designee about the appropriateness of waiving in light of the employee’s progress toward promotion, and about whether management should be obligated to continue to make assignments that give the employee the opportunity to demonstrate work at the next higher level. If, after this meeting, the employee chooses to waive promotion review, he/she shall submit a written statement to the Director with copies to the Associate or Assistant Director, the Office of Workforce Management and Development, and to the Association indicating whether the waiver will be indefinite or only of the next scheduled promotion review, and whether he/she also wishes to be relieved of the assignment of work at the next higher level. The Associate or Assistant Director shall provide a summary of the meeting to the Director, the Office of Workforce Management and Development, and the employee. An indefinite waiver shall remain in effect until it has been rescinded by the employee in writing to the Director with copies to the Associate or Assistant Director, the Office of Workforce Management and Development, and to the Association, although a scheduled discussion with the Associate or Assistant Director as described above will be required in advance of the date when each promotion review would have been scheduled had the employee not waived. The Associate or Assistant Director will provide a summary report for each such meeting to the Director, the Office of Workforce Management and Development, and the employee. A waiver may be rescinded at any time. Following rescission of the waiver, the employee may submit his/her work file for promotion review at any time, provided, however, that rescission of a waiver does not require that a promotion review be conducted sooner than a review would have been scheduled had there been no waiver. Following submission of the work file, the Associate or Assistant Director shall complete his/her review and make a recommendation within thirty (30) days. Employees shall be allowed waivers without coercion or prejudice.
Section 8.
The Library will make every reasonable effort to ensure that an employee whose promotion is approved shall be promoted no later than the beginning of the first pay period after the eligibility or anniversary date. In the case of reviews following rescission of a waiver, or following a mid-term review, the Library will make every reasonable effort to ensure that an employee whose promotion is approved shall be promoted no later than the beginning of the first pay period that commences forty-five (45) days after the Associate or Assistant Director’s or designee’s decision for employees in professional positions, or fifteen (15) days after the Associate or Assistant Director’s decision for all other employees. If, as the result of unjustified non-compliance on the part of management with any of the requirements of this Section, or as the result of administrative or clerical error for which the Library is responsible, the promotion of an employee rated “Recommended for Promotion” is delayed, the employee shall be paid retroactively for the period of delay, where permitted by applicable law.
Section 9.
For the purpose of this Article, the promotion eligibility date for staff in professional positions shall be the date upon which an employee shall have been in grade and in pay status for one year. (This and all further references to one year in grade means the equivalent of one year of full-time work. Allowance will be made, however, for as much as 80 hours of LWOP.) For each additional calendar year that the employee remains in grade and in pay status, whether full-time or part-time, he/she shall receive an anniversary review equivalent to the eligibility review, unless the employee waives review in accordance with the provisions of this Article.
For employees in all other promotion ladders, the promotion eligibility date shall be the date upon which an employee has been in grade and in pay status for 6 months. (This and all further references to six months in grade means the equivalent of six months of full-time work. Allowance will be made, however, for as much as 40 hours of LWOP.) For each additional six months that the employee remains in grade and in pay status, whether full-time or part-time, he/she shall receive an anniversary review equivalent to the eligibility review, unless the employee waives review in accordance with Section 7, above.
An Associate or Assistant Director or designee may recommend an employee for promotion at any time, subject only to time-in-grade requirements.
The anniversary date of employees in professional positions who are rated “Not Recommended for Promotion at This Time” following rescission of an indefinite waiver shall be one year from the date of final Library decision denying promotion.
The anniversary date of all other employees who are rated “Not Recommended for Promotion at this Time” following rescission of an indefinite waiver shall be six months from the date of final Library decision denying promotion.
Section 10.
A rating of “Not Recommended for Promotion at This Time” may not be grieved under Article 31 of this Agreement, except to the extent that an employee claims a violation of law or provisions of this Article.
Section 11.
The Library agrees to notify the Association 21 days in advance of any proposed change in promotion standards or guidelines and to meet, consult, and negotiate with the Association regarding any negotiable aspects of Library proposals in accordance with the Federal Service Labor Management Relations Statute. In addition, the Library agrees to provide information sessions for all affected employees to learn about the impact of any changes in such promotion standards; such sessions shall be scheduled within thirty days of the completion of negotiations between the Library and the Association regarding any such changes. Affected employees shall be authorized official time to attend such sessions.