Question
What responsibilities do Federal agencies have for position classification and job grading?
Answer
Under section 5107 of title 5, United States Code (U.S.C.), Federal agencies are responsible for classifying their GS positions consistent with position classification standards issued by OPM. Similarly, under 5 U.S.C. § 5346, agencies are responsible for grading their FWS jobs consistent with the job grading standards issued by OPM. Therefore, similar or like positions and jobs across Federal agencies should be classified or graded in a consistent manner since they are evaluated against the same standards rather than position-to-position comparisons. Agencies are required to classify positions and grade jobs based on the duties and responsibilities assigned to the position and the qualifications required to perform that work. Qualifications possessed by an employee that are not needed to perform the work assigned to the position or job may not be considered in the position classification or job grading process.