§4701 — Title 42 The Public Health and Welfare | U.S. Code

Summary

Federal help to improve how state and local governments hire and manage their workers is in the national interest. Many local programs serve national goals and get federal money, so the country needs high-quality public service. To raise that quality, personnel systems should follow six merit principles: hire and promote people based on ability and openly consider qualified applicants; provide fair pay; train workers; keep, correct, or remove employees based on performance; treat applicants and workers fairly without regard to political affiliation, race, color, national origin, sex, or religious creed and respect privacy and constitutional rights; and protect employees from political pressure and from using their office to affect an election. Federal financial and technical help to meet these principles is in the national interest.

Title 42, §4701

The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Congress hereby finds and declares— That effective State and local governmental institutions are essential in the maintenance and development of the Federal system in an increasingly complex and interdependent society. That, since numerous governmental activities administered by the State and local governments are related to national purpose and are financed in part by Federal funds, a national interest exists in a high caliber of public service in State and local governments. That the quality of public service at all levels of government can be improved by the development of systems of personnel administration consistent with such merit principles as— (1) recruiting, selecting, and advancing employees on the basis of their relative ability, knowledge, and skills, including open consideration of qualified applicants for initial appointment; (2) providing equitable and adequate compensation; (3) training employees, as needed, to assure high-quality performance; (4) retaining employees on the basis of the adequacy of their performance, correcting inadequate performance, and separating employees whose inadequate performance cannot be corrected; (5) assuring fair treatment of applicants and employees in all aspects of personnel administration without regard to political affiliation, race, color, national origin, sex, or religious creed and with proper regard for their privacy and constitutional rights as citizens; and (6) assuring that employees are protected against coercion for partisan political purposes and are prohibited from using their official authority for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election or a nomination for office. That Federal financial and technical assistance to State and local governments for strengthening their personnel administration in a manner consistent with these principles is in the national interest.

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Short Title

Pub. L. 91–648, § 1, Jan. 5, 1971, 84 Stat. 1909, provided: “That this Act [enacting this chapter and sections 3371 to 3376 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, amending section 246(f) of this title, section 1304 of Title 5, repealing sections 1881 to 1888 of Title 7, Agriculture, and section 869b of Title 20, Education, and enacting provisions set out as notes under section 3371 of Title 5] may be cited as the ‘Intergovernmental Personnel Act of 1970’.”

§4701 Congressional findings and declaration of policy

Summary

Title 42, §4701

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Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

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