Merit Systems and Nonprofit HRM
PUBADM 505
2026-09-21
Outline
- Merit systems in government
- Merit principles and prohibited personnel practices
- HRM in nonprofit organizations
- Case study: Corvallis Crisis Line (after the break)
Merit Systems in Government
Hurricane Dorian, 2019
White House video, September 4, 2019 (public domain)
- Sept. 1: the President says Alabama will likely be hit “(much) harder than anticipated”
- About 20 minutes later, the NWS office in Birmingham posts that Alabama will see no impacts
- Sept. 4: the forecast map, extended into Alabama with a marker
- Sept. 6: NOAA issues an unsigned statement saying Birmingham “spoke in absolute terms”
10 minutes with your table:
- Who should the Birmingham forecasters answer to: the President, NOAA leadership, the public, or the science?
- Was NOAA’s statement appropriate political responsiveness, or political interference? Where is the line?
- If you were one of the forecasters, what would you do next, and what protections would you need to do it?
Politics and Government Employment
Political responsiveness
Elected leaders set direction. Career staff carry out the policies voters chose, even ones they disagree with.
Neutral competence
Hiring and firing turn on qualifications and performance, so staff can tell leaders what they do not want to hear.
The question is how much political responsiveness is appropriate, and who decides where to draw the line.
A Brief History of the Civil Service
Jobs reward party loyalty; each election turns over offices
President Garfield is shot by a disappointed office-seeker
Open competitive exams; no firing for refusing political contributions. Covers ~10% of jobs at first
Lloyd–La Follette lets employees petition Congress. The Hatch Act limits partisan activity. Social Security amendments require merit systems in grant-funded state programs
OPM, MSPB, FLRA, and the Senior Executive Service
Having employees is not the same as having a capable government.
The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978
The problem by the 1970s
Employees were hard to evaluate and harder to remove. “Turkey farms” held people no one could fire. One commission hired, set rules, and judged appeals.
The CSRA’s answer
Split the jobs up. OPM runs personnel policy. MSPB hears appeals. FLRA oversees labor relations. Add performance management and a mobile Senior Executive Service.
How can a system protect employees from political firing without also protecting poor performers?
Merit Principles and Prohibited Personnel Practices
9 merit system principles
Goals for how the federal workforce should be managed (5 U.S.C. § 2301).
14 prohibited personnel practices
Actions that are against the law (5 U.S.C. § 2302). A manager can be disciplined for them, and employees harmed by one can seek corrective action.
The Nine Merit System Principles
Recruit from all segments of society; select and advance on ability, knowledge, and skills after fair and open competition
Fair and equitable treatment regardless of political affiliation, race, sex, religion, age, disability, or marital status
Equal pay for work of equal value; incentives and recognition for excellent performance
High standards of integrity, conduct, and concern for the public interest
Use the workforce efficiently and effectively
Retain employees based on performance; correct poor performance, and separate those who cannot or will not improve
Provide training where it improves individual and organizational performance
Protect employees from favoritism, arbitrary action, and political coercion
Protect employees who report lawbreaking, mismanagement, waste, abuse of authority, or dangers to public health and safety
The Merit in Merit Principles
- The goal is an ethical, competent, and effective workforce with high integrity that serves the public interest
- Written for the federal civil service, but good principles for all public service employment
- State and local governments
- Nonprofit organizations
- The principles line up with the NASPAA competencies for public service (Guy & Sowa, Table 3.3)
Prohibited Personnel Practices
- Enumerated by the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978
- Hold both supervisors and employees accountable
- Connect how people are treated to how the organization performs:
The people in the organization
How people are trained, developed, promoted, and rewarded
The quantity and quality of services delivered
Results achieved for the mission
The 14 Prohibited Personnel Practices
- Discriminate for or against an employee or applicant
- Consider recommendations not based on personal knowledge or records
- Coerce political activity, or retaliate for refusing it
- Deceive or obstruct anyone’s right to compete for a job
- Influence anyone to withdraw from competition
- Grant a preference not authorized by law
- Hire, promote, or advocate for a relative (nepotism)
- Retaliate against whistleblowers
- Retaliate for filing an appeal, complaint, or grievance, cooperating with an Inspector General, or refusing to break the law
- Discriminate based on conduct that does not affect job performance
- Violate veterans’ preference requirements
- Violate any law, rule, or regulation implementing the merit principles
- Enforce a nondisclosure agreement that lacks the required whistleblower-protection language
- Access an employee’s or applicant’s medical records as part of any of the above
The book lists 13. The 14th was added in 2017.
Activity: Allowed or Prohibited?
1. A division chief recommends her nephew for an opening in her own division.
Prohibited: nepotism2. A supervisor asks staff to help on a candidate's campaign. People who say no get the weekend shifts.
Prohibited: coerced political activity3. A hiring panel adds points to a veteran's score.
Allowed, in fact required for eligible veterans. Violating veterans' preference is the prohibited practice.4. A manager tells a strong outside applicant not to bother, because the job is "already spoken for."
Prohibited: obstructing or discouraging competitionDue Process: Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill
The case (1985)
A school security guard is fired for failing to disclose a past felony conviction on his application. He gets no chance to respond before he is fired.
The Supreme Court held that a civil servant removable only for cause has a property interest in the job. Before firing: notice, an explanation of the evidence, and a chance to respond.
Does the public benefit from this protection, or only the employee?
Removing Civil Service Protections: Schedule F
What it does
- Creates a new category for career positions that are “confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating”
- Employees are still hired on merit, stay career (not political) appointees, and keep protection from prohibited personnel practices and whistleblower retaliation
- But they lose the adverse-action procedures and MSPB appeal rights from slide 14. Agencies can remove them with written notice.
Timeline
- Oct. 2020: created as “Schedule F” (EO 13957)
- Jan. 2021: rescinded (EO 14003)
- Jan. 2025: reinstated as “Schedule Policy/Career” (EO 14171)
- Feb. 2026: OPM final rule
- June 2026: about 8,000 positions moved, 97% at GS-15 or senior level
- Union lawsuits are pending
Schedule F: Arguments For and Against
For
Policy-influencing career staff should answer to elected leaders. Leaders need to be able to remove staff who resist the agenda voters chose.
Against
Without appeal rights, the risk Pendleton addressed returns. The staff most likely to be removed are the ones whose job is to tell leaders unwelcome facts.
Back to Birmingham: if the forecasters could be removed with written notice, what would they have posted?
HRM in Nonprofit Organizations
Nonprofits in the United States
people employed by nonprofits
public service employees work in a nonprofit
reporting public charities have revenue under $500,000
Guy & Sowa, Chapter 4; counts from the National Center for Charitable Statistics
Show of hands: who has worked or volunteered in a nonprofit? Anyone contracted with one?
Three Failures Theory
Weisbrod · Hansmann · Salamon
No profit in the service, or buyers cannot judge its quality
Government serves the median voter, so specialized needs go unmet
Nonprofits lack stable money and reach, so they turn to government as a partner
The boundaries between sectors are blurry. Government, nonprofits, and businesses often deliver the same public services.
How Are Nonprofits Different?
No civil service protections. The employee can be let go for any lawful reason.
Every hire, raise, and benefit needs a funding source.
No central personnel rules, so the nonprofit designs its own practices. The task is getting the level of structure right.
A nonprofit can serve one population. Hiring by protected characteristic is almost never allowed; BFOQs are very narrow and never cover race. Religious organizations may prefer their own members.
Employment At-Will
Civil servant
Property interest in the job. Notice, a chance to respond, and an appeal. Merit principles backed by enforceable prohibited practices.
Nonprofit employee
At will unless there is a contract. The law still bars discrimination and many kinds of retaliation. Everything else is up to the organization.
Nonprofits can adopt merit principles on their own, through written policies and an employee handbook.
Funding and the Starvation Cycle
Gregory & Howard (2009), “The Nonprofit Starvation Cycle”
Donative labor: the assumption that employees will accept lower pay because they believe in the mission. Mission attachment is not a substitute for competitive pay.
Managing Volunteers
Who is in charge of volunteers? A written role description and an application
Background checks where clients are vulnerable
Orientation, a handbook, and skills for the role
Supervision, logged hours, and feedback
Appreciation keeps volunteers coming back
Volunteers need the same basic HR infrastructure as paid staff.
The Board of Directors
What the board does
Hires, evaluates, and if necessary fires the executive director. Keeps the organization on its charitable purpose. Owes duties of care, loyalty, and obedience.
What that means for HR
The executive director reports to the board. The board is responsible for evaluating the executive director and making sure HR policies are in place.
Where you work or volunteer: who evaluates the person at the top, and how often?
Next Week…
September 28: Job design and job analysis
Guy & Sowa, Chapter 5
Case: Job Evaluation: Some Counselors Are More Equal Than Others (student-led)
Case Study: Corvallis Crisis Line
PUBADM 505 · Personnel Management