§293 Authority to Conduct a Demonstration Project Relating to Disciplinary Action

Summary

The Attorney General and the Secretary may each run a demonstration project, for up to 5 years after November 25, 2002, to test whether changing employee discipline rules improves personnel management. The project can only cover employees who work in a “covered entity.” It is not limited by chapters 43, 75, or 77 of Title 5. The project must encourage using alternative dispute resolution when appropriate and must provide quick, fair, and independent review for actions that would normally fall under section 4303 or subchapter II of chapter 75 of Title 5, except for actions described in section 7512(5). If a matter under 5 U.S.C. 7702(a)(1)(B) has no court-reviewable action within 120 days after an appeal or formal request for review, the employee may file a civil action like under 5 U.S.C. 7702(e)(1). Nonmanagers and nonsupervisors in units with exclusive union recognition under chapter 71 are excluded, but an aggrieved employee in such a unit may choose the project’s complaint process instead of negotiated or statutory procedures. The Government Accountability Office must report to the House Committees on Government Reform and the Judiciary and the Senate Committees on Governmental Affairs and the Judiciary after the project’s second and fourth years. The Attorney General or the Secretary must give the GAO information it needs. “Covered entity” is defined in section 292(a)(2).