Federal Employees Excluded From Certain Provisions of Civil Service Reform Act of 1978

The Civil Service Reform Act protects most Government employees from specified prohibited personnel practices such as discrimination, political coercion, and reprisals; however, this protection does not apply to employees in Government corporations. According to the Merit Systems Protection Board's Office of the Special Counsel, there have been many complaints of personnel abuse within Government corporations. A review was performed to determine the justification for excluding all Government corporations from the provisions of the Act.

According to the Office of the Special Counsel, it is not clear whether all corporations are excluded from the provisions of the Act. GAO contacted 13 Government corporations which have employees in competitive service positions and are required to follow other civil service laws and regulations but are excluded from the protections afforded by the Act. Eight of the corporations stated that they assumed that the provisions applied to them. All but one of the corporations believed that their employees should be entitled to the protections that other Federal employees have. GAO believes that there is no justification for excluding certain Government corporations from the prohibited personnel practices provisions.

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