Personnel Practices: Details of Schedule C Employees to the White House

GAO discussed federal agencies' use of Schedule C appointment authority to hire employees and detail them to the White House. GAO noted that: (1) Schedule C positions are excepted from the competitive service, since the personnel in those positions either make policy or have a close and confidential working relationship with a key official; (2) some agencies, including the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy (DOE), hired employees for Schedule C positions and detailed them directly to the White House, although the purpose of the Schedule C appointment authority is to facilitate the employment of policymakers and confidential assistants within the hiring agency; (3) agencies typically do not follow legislative requirements that they bill the White House for employees detailed for more than 180 days; (4) the President's annual reports to Congress underreported the number of White House detailees; (5) the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) did not agree with the GAO recommendation that it issue regulations prohibiting the detailing of Schedule C employees within 90 days of appointment; (6) DOE did not believe that it was required to report its details of Schedule C employees to OPM; (7) in response to detailing and reporting problems that GAO identified, Congress required agency heads to certify to OPM that they did not create Schedule C positions solely or primarily to detail employees to the White House; and (8) agencies appeared to be complying with that legislation.