PPR Frequently Asked Questions

FORMS AND DOCUMENTATION QUESTIONS

Q 1. An employee's anniversary date is after February 28, 2001 so the new rules apply to the rating and review session. However, the planning session for the rating period was conducted using the old form. What form is used to conduct the rating/review session?

A 1. Using the original planning PPR document, document the comments for each performance expectation and circle the rating for each expectation. Obtain a copy of the new PPR form, detach and retain pages 1 and 8 and discard the rest. Calculate the overall rating from the old planning document on the "new" page 8. Record the rating and all other required information, such as rating period dates, etc. on the "new"page 1 of the new form. Attach pages one and eight to the front of the original "planning" PPR document. This combined document will be the official PPR form and this is what the Rating Supervisor should work from for the Rating and Review session. At the end of the review session, the employee and Rating Supervisor should sign page 1 as indicated. Note: We recognize that during this transition period, there will be combinations of forms, extra pages included in forms, etc. that may appear unusual. Our main concern is that (1) all Civil Service rules are followed, and (2) the employee, Rating Supervisor, Civil Service representatives, and anyone else involved in the process can look at the official document, or copies of it, and be able to understand what occurred.

Q 2. Does the employee have to receive a copy of the final PPR form for the rating to be official?

A 2. Yes, the employee must be given a copy of the final signed and dated form, within the window of opportunity provided for the rating or re-rating. If the copy is not given, or not given within the time provided in C.S. Rule 10.6, the rating is not official. (If the employee refuses to sign or refuses to accept the copy, the Rating Supervisor must document that on the form. This will not invalidate the rating.) On the bottom of page 1, the Rating Supervisor should include the "Date Employee Given Copy of Rating or Re-rating.") This combined form should be copied in its entirety for the employee, Rating Supervisor and Human Resource. Remember--the planning session for the next rating period should be conducted by the day that falls 30 days after the anniversary date. Many Rating Supervisors conduct this planning session at the conclusion of the rating and review session described above. An entirely new PPR document should be prepared for this planning session.

Q 3.Why is it important to provide the date at the bottom of page 1,where it says "Date employee given copy of rating or date copy of rating form was mailed?"

A 3.This is the official date of the rating or re-rating.

Q 4. Must the official rating document given to the employee include page 9, the form provided for documentation of the Reviewer's decision in response to an employee's request for a review? It seems unnecessary to include this on all ratings.

A 4. No, page 9 doesn't have to be attached. In the event an employee requests a review, the Reviewer can complete and attach a copy of page 9 at the conclusion of the Review process, being sure to give all necessary persons copies of the complete revised PPR form in accordance with instructions provided on page 9.

Q 5. Does the instruction (cover) sheet have to be attached to the official PPR form?

A 5. No, it can be detached and not included as part of the official document.

Q 6. A Rating Supervisor mailed the PPR form to the employee because he/she was out on extended leave at the time the RS was ready to conduct the rating session, and still wasn't available by the deadline date. The RS mailed the form in accordance with C.S. Rule10.6 (d) but of course, does not have the employee's signature on the form. How does the Rating Supervisor explain the lack of employee signature?

A 6. Make a note on the PPR form that the form was mailed to the employee to satisfy the requirements of Rule 10.6, and note the fact the employee was not at work. When mailing the form, we recommend the Rating Supervisor obtain a "Certificate of Mailing" from the Post Office as documentation confirming the date the form was mailed. The form will still be official.

Q 7. If a rating must be mailed to an employee, what is the deadline date for mailing it?

A 7. See C.S. Rule 10.6 (d). The deadline date is the anniversary date, the same as for actually conducting the rating session. However, we recommend a "Certificate of Mailing" be obtained from the post office as documentation the rating was mailed and on what date.

RATING QUESTIONS

Q 8. What happens when the Rating Supervisor conducts an otherwise compliant rating, but due to a "technicality" (for example, the session is conducted outside the window of opportunity) it is not considered official?

A 8. See C.S. Rule 10.4 (c) AND page 1 of the new PPR form. If a Rating Supervisor or Human Resource representative discovers a rating is actually "un-rated" because of non-compliance with a rule requirement, the rating must be changed on page 1 of the PPR form to"un-rated." (This can be done by a Rating Supervisor, Human Resource officer or if appropriate, the Reviewer.) The employee and Rating Supervisor must sign and date underneath. A copy of this corrected page 1 must be provided to everyone who received a copy of the original rating. It is imperative that the employee receive a copy of this immediately because the employee can request a review form the Designated Reviewer within 15 days of the anniversary date.

Q 9. A planning session wasn't conducted for an employee. How can a Rating Supervisor rate the employee if a planning document was not prepared?

A 9. There are several resources available to aid the Rating Supervisor in the absence of a planning document: personal observations and documentation notes made during the rating period, compliments/complaints received from others regarding the employee's performance, position description, Civil Service job specification, office policies and procedures documents/memos, work samples, training and other manuals outlining job duties, etc. A Civil Service rule was violated when a planning session was not conducted; do not violate another Civil Service rule by not conducting a rating session. You may wish to make a note on the PPR form, in the comments portion next to your signature, what documents were used in the absence of a planning document.

Q 10. What is a "closeout" rating?

A 10. A closeout rating is an informal rating conducted by a Rating Supervisor when either (a) an employee is leaving the Rating Supervisor's supervision or (b) the Rating Supervisor is leaving the work group and will no longer supervise the employee(s.) This informs the employee what the Rating Supervisor's assessment of his/her performance has been for the portion of the rating period he/she has supervised the employee, but is also invaluable to the new supervisor when he/she prepares to conduct the next official rating for the employee.

Q 11. What are a Rating Supervisor's options when an employee moves from one supervisor to another supervisor and the anniversary date occurs soon after the employee makes the move? How does the Rating Supervisor rate the employee when he/she has had little time to evaluate the employee's performance?

A 11. There are actually several options here.

1. First, the new Rating Supervisor should determine if the employee received a "closeout" rating from the losing supervisor. If so, the Rating Supervisor can review that rating and include it in her/his assessment of the employee's rating for the rating period. The rating period indicated on page 1 should be for the entire year, and the RS should make a note in the comments portion next to his/her signature that while he/she only supervised the employee for a short time, he/she considered the former supervisor's closeout rating when rating the employee.

2. In the absence of a closeout rating, the Rating Supervisor can attempt to get performance input from the former Rating Supervisor; usually this is easier if the employee has simply transferred from one work unit within the same agency to another one. Using that information and what ever observations/documentation the RS has for the period he/she has supervised the employee, the RS can rate the employee as explained in (1) above.

3. If no closeout rating was conducted and contacting the former supervisor isn't an option, but if the Rating Supervisor interviewed and selected this employee for transfer to the position, it is assumed the RS considers the new employee to at least be "Meets Requirements." Otherwise, the RS wouldn't have selected the employee for the position. In this case, the RS may wish to simply rate the employee "Meets Requirements," making a comment on the form and explaining to the employee the rationale behind such a rating.

4. Sometimes there is no way to render a rating; the only option left is to render an "un-rated" rating. You are encouraged to exhaust all other options before doing so, though.

PLANNING QUESTIONS

Q 12. On the planning document, does a performance expectation have to be written in for each performance factor for which an employee is being rated?

A 12. Yes. See Civil Service Rule 10.5 (b). "The Rating Supervisor shall provide written expectations for all factors upon which the employee will be rated."

REVIEW QUESTIONS

Q 13. Can an employee request a review of a single factor?

A 13. Rule 10.13 outlines the conditions under which an employee can request a review of an official rating. If an employee disagrees only with a single factor, he/she must determine if raising that one factor rating would change the overall rating assigned. If so, he/she can request a review of the overall rating, providing documentation supporting his claims that the one factor should be higher. If raising the one factor rating wouldn't affect the overall score, the employee would not have a compelling basis for requesting a review.

Q 14. Can an employee who is not rated request a review ? He doesn't have anything to take issue with or refute if he didn't get a rating at all, does he?

A 14. An employee who is "Unrated" because he received no rating at all can request a review by the date that falls 15 days after his/her anniversary date. In the request for a review, the employee isn't required to provide the lengthier justification for the review request that would be required if he was actually disagreeing with a true rating rendered by the Rating Supervisor. All he has to do is request the review based on the fact he received none. The employee should check with the Human Resource Office of his agency to see if they have a specially designed form for this purpose. After receiving the review request, the agency (Designated Reviewer) is then required to review, or have the Rating Supervisor review, the employee's performance and should assign a rating during the "review" process. Official rating is the overall rating, not a single factor.

Q 15. An employee receives no PPR rating and then requests a review from his agency's Designated Review under C.S. Rule 10.13. A rating is rendered through the official Review process. The employee disagrees with the rating and now wishes to request a review of that rating. Does the employee now have a chance at a second review within the agency?

A 15. No. The review is considered the one and only agency review. According to C.S. Rule 10.14, the employee must now request a review from the Director of Civil Service.

Q 16. Can the result of a "request for review" by an employee be "Un-rated"?

A 16. Yes. There is nothing to prevent an agency Designated Reviewer from rendering a rating of "Un-rated" in response to an employee request for review. Acceptable causes for this would be a situation such as when an employee has been absent from the office for a long period of time, receives a rating of "un-rated" from the Rating supervisor, asks for a review of the rating, and the Reviewer determines that due to the fact the employee was absent from the office for a long period of time, there was not a significant amount of performance during the rating period to rate. The Reviewer can confirm the rating of "Un-rated."

Q 17. If the employee doesn't receive his rating and his 15-day window of opportunity following his anniversary date has lapsed, can he still request a review?

A 17. No. Once the 15 days has lapsed, the employee cannot request a review at his agency or from the Director of Civil Service. The agency has violated a Civil Service rule by not rating the employee or notifying the employee his rating is un-rated, but the employee remains un-rated and the un-rated rating must be reported by the agency to Civil Service in its yearly PPR report. However, the Rating Supervisor who didn't render the rating for the employee should be held accountable in his/her PPR for non-compliance with the PPR rules.

Q 18. An employee does not receive his official rating by the anniversary date. What should the employee do?

A 18. The employee should assume his rating is Un-rated. Civil Service rules say the employee must receive notification of his rating, even an un-rated, in the 60 days prior to or on his anniversary date. If this doesn't occur, a Civil Service rule has been violated. However, the employee can assume his rating is un-rated and can take steps to request a review of his un-rated rating, if he desires. He should immediately contact his Human Resource office, notify them he hasn't received a rating, and begin to take steps to request a review if he wishes. Again, this has to be done within the window of opportunity.

Q 19. An employee who received NO PPR rating at all from his/her supervisor, thereby receiving an "Un-rated" rating, requests the designated Reviewer for a review. Is the Reviewer required to prepare the PPR form, assign the overall rating and conduct the rating and review session, or can the Reviewer require the Rating Supervisor to do so?

A 19. No, the Reviewer is not required to prepare the document and conduct the session, but that is an option. However, we recommend the Reviewer instruct the Rating Supervisor to prepare the form, giving a deadline date for doing so. Then, the Reviewer should review the rating form before the Rating Supervisor conducts the session to verify he/she agrees with the rating. The Rating Supervisor should then confer the overall rating retroactive to the employee's anniversary date. All parties--the Reviewer, Rating Supervisor and Employee should sign on the last page of the PPR form attesting to the results of the Request for Review.

Q 20. Can the employee request a review of a rating by simply making a request in the Comments section, next to his/her name and signature, on page one of the PPR form in the Final Session-Rating and Review box?

A 20. No, the employee must request the review according to C.S. Rule 10.13. He cannot use the PPR form to make the request. The Employee's Statement, which the employee reads and signs, is an acknowledgment by the employee that he has been informed of his/her right to request a review "…in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 10." While some Human Resource offices may have prepared packets of information or copies of the rules to aid the employee in his request, it is the employee's responsibility to read the rules and follow them.

Q 21. Must the request for review be addressed to the Designated reviewer by name? The Employee's Statement on the PPR form reads "I may…….seek a review of this rating from the officially designated Reviewer in accordance with Chapter 10 of the Civil Service rules." The employee may not know who his Reviewer is or the Reviewer may not yet be designated.

A 21. No. The request can simply be made to "Reviewer" without indicating an individual's name. We use this language in the instructions to indicate to the employee there is a designated person whose role it is to respond to requests for review. If the Reviewer is already named,

it is recommended that the employee obtain/be told the name and address the request to that person, because this will help expedite the process once the request has been received by the H.R. office. And, the employee knows who will be conducting his/her review. Note that the rules do say that the request for review must be received in the Human Resource office, who will route it to the designated Reviewer. The employee does NOT submit the request directly to the Reviewer.

MERIT INCREASE, REALLOCATION AND OTHER QUESTIONS

Q 22. If an employee who received a "Poor" or "Needs Improvement" rating is re-rated and receives a "Meets Requirements" or better, can the merit increase be granted retroactive to the original anniversary date?

A 22. No. The employee is only eligible for the merit increase, as well as promotion or permanent status (if serving on probational status) effective the date the re-rating. See C.S. Rule 10.7 (b).

Q 23. Can an employee be re-allocated or undergo a job correction while having a "Poor" or "Needs Improvement" rating?

A 23. Yes. Job correction and reallocation are based on the duties assigned the job title or position, respectively, and are really irrelevant to the quality of the performance of those duties by the incumbent. The exception to this is reallocation within a training series. If an incumbent receives a "Poor" or "Needs Improvement" overall or even in one or more critical factors within an overall "Meets Requirements," the agency can (and should) use the PPR as documentation to deny reallocation to the next level in the training series. In theory the requirements for moving up in a training series include a measure of both quality of performance of assigned duties AND the duties themselves.

RE-RATING QUESTIONS

Q 24. For anniversary dates through February 28, 2001, what rules regarding re-rating and appeals apply? Old rules or new?

A 24. Old rules apply. For example, if an employee receives a "Needs Improvement" on 2/27/2001, the Rating Supervisor must re-rate between three and six months after the anniversary date, according to the rules that were in effect for anniversary dates prior to March 1,2001. Regarding requests for review for anniversary dates prior to3/01/01, only those employees receiving "Poor" or "Needs Improvement" ratings could request reviews at their agencies or later appeal to the Commission.

Q 25. How many chances for a re-rating does an employee have after receiving a "Poor" or "Needs Improvement" rating?

A 25. One. After one re-rating, the employee is not officially rated again until the 60 day rating period prior to or on the next anniversary date. However, the Rating Supervisor is advised to conduct informal reviews between the re-rating and the next rating period to assess the employee's progress and provide continual feedback and communication.

Q 26. An employee receives a "Poor" or "Needs Improvement" rating on 3/10/01 for anniversary date 3/15/01. He/she is re-rated on8/18/01. When the employee is given his next official rating, in the 60 day period prior to or on anniversary date 3/15/02, what is the official rating Period From and To Period?

A 26. The Performance Rating Period should be only from the time of the re-rating to the next official rating. Do not include the period already covered by the Re-rating. Remember, a new planning document should also be prepared after the re-rating conducted on 8/18/01, to cover the remainder of the rating period.

ISIS HR-RELATED QUESTIONS

Q 27. What numerical value do I enter into ISIS HR when an employee has not been rated, or was not rated compliant with the Chapter 10 rules, and we have to enter his "un-rated" rating into ISIS HR? 3 or 0?

A 27. The numerical value would be zero, (0). And of course, you are correct that ALL "un-rated" ratings MUST be entered into ISIS HR just as any other rating (Meets Requirements, Needs Improvement, etc.) is entered into the system.