JUAN I. Tenorio, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management, is asking for the cooperation of all department and activity heads to avoid “problem areas” in the hiring of new employees.
In an April 3 memorandum, Tenorio said department heads should avoid the practice of allowing individuals to work before the certification of their employment.
“On several recent occasions, job candidates have been allowed to work before the required processing has been completed and before the director of personnel has certified their employment. I am asking your cooperation in preventing these situations and the attendant problems,” said Tenorio.
He said appointing authorities may be violating laws if they allow employees to begin working prior to the approval of the request for personnel action by the director of personnel.
He said this constitutes “illegal hiring” in violation of 1 CMC 8143(a) and “will not be tolerated nor financed by the government.”
The section of the law mandates that “no payments can be made for personal service (period) of employment unless payroll certification has been made by the director of personnel.”
The certification is accomplished by the director’s signature on a notice of personnel action sent to the Department of Finance and the requesting department.
Tenorio said Finance “will not make payment for any period of employment prior to the start date certified by the director of personnel.” Effective dates on request for personnel actions will be modified if necessary to correspond to the hire date certified by the personnel director, Tenorio said.
According to Tenerio, 1 CMC 8144(b) states that “if selected applicants are asked or allowed to work prior to the issuance of this certification the officers of the government who purported to employ these individuals are personally liable for the agreed pay for the period worked.”
He added: “The government will not take responsibility for this obligation or reimburse the officer for any sum paid for such illegal service.”
The acting director also said that hiring officials should keep in mind that “no hire is definite until the processing is complete.”
“An earlier start of work for the applicant prejudges and anticipates the approval of the director of personnel. For a variety of possible reasons, this approval may not occur. This creates a liability that the government is not willing to assume and by statute, is not required to assume,” he said.
