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Congratulations! We’ve arrived at the final day of our Learning Journey on the civil service.
Let’s review the highlights:
What is the civil service?
The civil service is made up of individuals other than military personnel, known as civil servants, who are employed by the federal government. These individuals are sometimes referred to as government bureaucrats or career administrators. The civil service includes members of the competitive service, the excepted service, and the Senior Executive Service.
Development of the civil service
The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883 eliminated the spoils system of the 19th century, which had rewarded individuals for partisan loyalty and service through appointments to government positions. The legislation ushered in the competitive civil service, allowing individuals to apply for government employment and compete through examinations rather than seek appointments on the basis of their political ideology or government connections.
During the late 19th century and early 20th century, members of the competitive civil service gained workers' compensation protections, retirement annuities, and procedural protections against removal, which aimed to ensure that federal employees could only be fired for just cause.
The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (CSRA) reaffirmed the merit system selection process, codified collective bargaining procedures, and identified prohibited practices in the federal workforce, including nepotism and discrimination on the basis of age, sex, race, religion, or other specified factors. The legislation also created guidelines for the removal of personnel for unsatisfactory performance, created the Senior Executive Service, and decentralized agency oversight of the federal workforce.
Contemporary changes to the civil service
President Trump issued three executive orders in March 2018 that made changes to collective bargaining practices and removal procedures for poor-performing federal employees. Together, these measures aimed to strengthen executive oversight of the federal civil service.
A number of states, including Georgia, Florida, Indiana, Arizona, and Tennessee, have adopted at-will civil service employment policies that depart from the federal model and aim to increase executive control over employee hiring, discipline, compensation, and termination.
What’s next?
Want to deepen your knowledge of another topic? Join us for another learning journey. We look forward to guiding you along another path of discovery!
Thank you for joining us on this Learning Journey! We hope that you will join us on other Learning Journeys to broaden your knowledge about the administrative state. |
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