Can an agency assign a summary level below Level 3 (Fully Successful or equivalent) if all an employees critical elements are appraised as Fully Successful or better?
Yes, as long as it does not result in assigning a Level 1 (Unacceptable) summary. However, the Office of Personnel Management advises agencies that use non-critical elements to measure group or organizational performance to stipulate that if all of a non-supervisory General Schedule employee’s critical elements and individual-level non-critical elements are appraised at least Fully Successful, the summary rating of record must be at least Level 3. This would prevent a within-grade increase being withheld on the basis of performance on a non-critical element measured at the group or organizational level, where the denial might not be upheld if appealed to the Merit Systems Protection Board.
Related Questions
- Why doesn the Office of Personnel Management allow an agency to use Level 2 as the "pass" level in a program with two summary levels?
- When designing a method to assign the summary level, do critical elements have to weigh more than non-critical elements?
- Are there names for each Rating Level such as Outstanding, Commendable, and Fully Successful?
