DHS

I did some research into this, and this is what I found. I linked my sources. I think the important information is at the bottom regarding the agency's right to define the competitive area.

5 CFR § 351.601 - Order of release from competitive level.
CFR

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§ 351.601 Order of release from competitive level.
(a) Each agency must select competing employees for release from a competitive level (including release from a competitive level involving a pay band) under this part in the inverse order of retention standing, beginning with the employee with the lowest retention standing on the retention register. An agency may not release a competing employee from a competitive level while retaining in that level an employee with lower retention standing except:
(1) As required under § 351.606 when an employee is retained under a mandatory exception or under § 351.806 when an employee is entitled to a new written notice of reduction in force; or
(2) As permitted under § 351.607 when an employee is retained under a permissive continuing exception or under § 351.608 when an employee is retained under a permissive temporary exception.
(b) At its option an agency may provide for intervening displacement within the competitive level before final release of the employee with the lowest-retention standing from the competitive level.
(c) When employees in the same retention subgroup have identical service dates and are tied for release from a competitive level, the agency may select any tied employee for release.
[73 FR 29388, May 21, 2008]

https://www.opm.gov/poli...g/reductions-in-force/#9

Defining the Competitive Area
When preparing for a RIF, the agency defines the "Competitive Area" that establishes the geographical and organizational limits for RIF competition.
A competitive area may consist of all or part of an agency.  The minimum competitive area is an organization in a local commuting area that is separate from other agency organizations because of differences in operation, work function, staff, and personnel administration.  Separate personnel administration is the authority of managers to authorize personnel actions (i.e., establishing positions, abolishing positions, etc.), not just process personnel actions.  For example, a single personnel office may potentially process actions for multiple competitive areas.

https://www.opm.gov/poli.../workforce_reshaping.pdf

OPM Definition of Competitive Area

Competitive Area. The organizational and geographic boundaries in which employees compete in a RIF. Agencies have the option of establishing a competitive area comprised only of pay band positions when the competitive area would otherwise include pay band positions and other positions not covered by a pay band.

Edited by user Monday, June 29, 2020 8:53:27 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

FOD starting sending theirs out about an hour ago.

Field office received notices, got mine. Pretty depressing.

Sorry to hear that. We have 34 year employees with Vet Pref that received a notice. We may hear more today about the potential error with the list. More to come.

The hierarchy is actually: 1. tenure of employment (e.g., type of appointment); 2. veterans' preference; 3. length of service; and 4. performance ratings. But, that's within a competitive area and competitive level. The federal regulation governing competitive level (5 C.F.R. § 351.403) provides:


Bold added. So, regardless of what might have been said, they have to follow the law and the USCIS bargaining agreement. I'm not sure if the 2016 contract is still in place, but it addressed RIF in Article 48. Under the 2016 contract, the RIF article specifically indicates: "All reductions-in-force, transfer of function, reorganizations, and furloughs will be carried out in compliance with applicable laws, and any alleged failure to comply with such laws and regulations will be processed in accordance with the Grievance Procedure Article of this Agreement, or for cases appealable to the MSPB, in accordance with its rules." Under the same article, employees receiving a RIF notice have the right "to review retention lists pertaining to all positions for which they are qualified." This would expressly include the retention register "for their competitive level and those for other positions for which they are qualified, down to and including those in the same or equivalent grade as the position offered by the Agency." For employees to be separated, the list should include "all positions equal to or below the grade level of their current positions." Finally, any affected employees have "the right to the assistance of the Union when reviewing such lists of records."

So how may people are being furloughed? Is it 6000 or still 13000?

Are they done send notices to people that work at FOD?

Check it out. We may receive some funding after the house homeland security subcommittee approved its bill during a July 07 markup.

“U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which moving to furlough 75 percent of its workers due to declining revenue, would receive $183.9 million.”

https://fcw.com/articles...riations-update.aspx?m=1

still needs to pass house and senate, I think.
also, pretty sure this is just general funding for next FY. not the 1.2B loan.

Any updates internally about the upcoming furloughs in regard to this article?

https://www.govexec.com/...ancial-situation/167081/