§209 Appointment of personnel

Summary

Allows people to be hired into specific officer grades in the Public Health Service. New hires can be made in the warrant officer grades (W–1 through W–4) and in the junior assistant, assistant, and senior assistant grades. Hiring above junior assistant normally requires passing an exam in medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, psychology, sanitary engineering, public health science, or related fields. Ready Reserve officers can be appointed up to the director grade only after passing an exam. Ready Reserve commissions are open‑ended but the President can end them at any time. No one 44 or older may be appointed to the Regular Corps or called to active Ready Reserve duty for more than one year unless they meet one of three rules: they have enough prior active service equal to the years they are over 44; the Surgeon General says they have rare, needed skills; or the Commissioned Corps has been declared a military service. Not more than 10 percent of the year’s new Regular Corps appointments may be made above senior assistant, and none of those may be above director. The count of how many appointments are allowed in a fiscal year is based on the extra authorized slots plus those who retire (including at age 64) or leave that year. Special exceptions allow certain Ready Reserve members who served around July 1, 1960, and who meet other timing rules, to be appointed above senior assistant, subject to standards set by the President. Presidential nominations to the Senate determine which fiscal year an appointment counts in. Commissions for Regular and Ready Reserve officers are issued by the Secretary of Health and Human Services under the Department seal. Gives pay and promotion credit rules for people appointed above junior assistant. For pay and promotion, an appointee is usually treated as if they already had: 3 years of service for senior assistant, 10 years for full grade, 17 years for senior grade, and 18 years for director. If another law gives more service credit, that larger amount applies for pay. Prior active Ready Reserve service can add to promotion credit under specific rules, and appointees to assistant get credit equal to their Ready Reserve active service at that level. A former Regular Corps officer may be reappointed within two years of leaving without re‑taking the exam and without regard to the 10% limit. Reappointments can be to the old permanent grade or to the next higher grade if eligible, and pay and promotion credit is treated like an original appointment but never less than what the officer had before; a higher reappointment gives no extra seniority in grade. The Surgeon General may set standards for reappointments. Special consultants and non‑officer scientists may be hired or given fellowships without following civil‑service rules, and non‑citizens may serve as consultants or fellows despite other laws. Any appointment that must follow civil‑service law is made by the Secretary and may start on the day the person begins work.