October 14, 2008

NTEU Again Takes Aim at an Unfair Hiring System
NTEU on Friday seized a rare opportunity and told a federal appeals court that the Federal Career Intern Program (FCIP) is threatening merit-based hiring and fair competition for jobs in the federal government.

In oral argument, NTEU told a three-judge panel that the fast-growing FCIP has "provided federal agencies with carte blanche" to decide what jobs could be filled without following fair and open competitive hiring practices. NTEU had filed a friend-of-the-court brief in Gingery v. the Department of Defense. Usually, only parties to a case take part in oral argument.

The case involves a 30-percent disabled veteran who was denied his full veteran's preference rights when he was passed over for an auditor position for which he was well qualified. Instead, the position went to an FCIP hire.

NTEU is making similar arguments against the FCIP in a federal lawsuit now pending against the Office of Personnel Management.

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