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STAFF RULES OF THE GENERAL SECRETARIAT
CLASSIFICATION OF POSTS
Rule 102.1 Systems and Standards of Classification of Posts
(a) The system of classification of posts is maintained by the Secretary General in order to ensure the assignment of appropriate grades and titles to all posts in the General Secretariat.
(b) The Secretary General shall issue the administrative provisions and standards for the classification of posts in the professional and general services categories in accordance with the resolutions of the OAS General Assembly. The Classification Standards may be consulted by any staff member in the Department of Human Resource Services .
(c) The classification of posts is directed at the posts and not at the persons who hold them. The classification of each post depends on the nature of the duties and responsibilities assigned to it, and is not affected by any of the following factors: physical location, length of service, quality of performance, education or experience of the incumbent, or volume of work.
Rule 102.2 Classified and Unclassified Posts
(a) The posts of Secretary General, of Assistant Secretary General, of the Executive Secretaries established in the Charter, and of Assistant Secretaries are unclassified posts.
(b) All other posts are classified in 14 grades within two categories, in conformity with the Classification Standards and the pertinent resolutions of the General Assembly.
(c) Professional category posts are those classified as such under the Classification Standards in force. The professional category comprises seven grades: P-1 to P-5 and D-1 and D-2.
(d) General services category posts are those classified as such under the Classification Standards in force. The general services category comprises the seven grades G-1 to G-7. Except as otherwise provided in Rule 104.15, staff members for this category should be recruited locally.
Rule 102.3 Classification Procedure
(a) The Department of Human Resource Services is responsible for ensuring that the grade of each post is compatible with its duties and level of responsibility, in accordance with the Classification Standards.
(b) Department and Office directors are responsible for ensuring that all staff members assigned to their Departments or Offices receive a description of the posts they occupy, and they are responsible for seeing to it that the descriptions of the posts adequately reflect the duties and responsibilities assigned to the staff members under their supervision.
(c) Except as provided in paragraph (d) below, and subject to the requirements of Rule 103.7, a supervisor may not assign new duties to a staff member that are likely to alter the classification level of the staff member's post without first sending to the Department of Human Resource Services, through the pertinent Executive or Assistant Secretary (or through the Secretary General or the Assistant Secretary General in the case of areas under the direct supervision of either of them), the following documentation: (i) a new proposed written post description (paper copy and diskette); (ii) the completed Official Reclassification Request Form (published by the Department of Human Resource Services ) setting forth the proposed changes and giving a detailed justification for them; (iii) an organizational chart showing the posts in the department or office with current grade levels and titles. Within the ninety days following its receipt of those documents, the Department of Human Resource Services shall issue an opinion on the possible consequences of the proposed assignment of duties and the requisites for making the assignment effective.
(d) Assignments of duties either at the same level or at a higher level for not more than two months are exempt from the requirement of paragraph (c) but are subject to the requirements of Rules 103.7 and 105.3.
(e) The Department of Human Resource Services shall review the classification of each vacant post before proceeding to fill it. The classification of posts in each Department or Office of the General Secretariat shall be reviewed periodically by the Department of Human Resource Services. It may review posts on its own initiative or responding to the incumbent's or supervisor's requests, or may schedule departmental, office-wide, or group reviews either in response to requests from Department or Office heads or as a result of circumstances such as unforeseen changes in the administrative structure or the needs of a Department or Office.
(f) The review of posts shall consist of:
(i) An analysis of the duties, responsibilities, and requirements of each post, described in the appropriate manner, approved by the Director of the Department or Office concerned;
(ii) An audit of each post, which insofar as possible will include on-site discussion with the incumbent and with his supervisors and an examination of some work samples, but may be limited to review of the information requested in Rule 102.3(c) or 102.3(i) if no substantial changes in duties have been made since the last review; and
(iii) An evaluation of the post in accordance with the Classification Standards.
(g) The Department of Human Resource Services shall review the classification and correct any errors or omissions that the review may reveal in the description of the post and shall certify the classification that corresponds to it in accordance with the Classification Standards. The final recommendation shall then be sent to the Secretary General for his decision. A change in the classification of a post shall become effective on the date that it is approved by the Secretary General.
(h) The classification of each post in conformity with paragraphs (e), (f), and (g) above, regardless of the level of the post in the budget, shall regulate all actions related to that post, such as:
(i) The possible payment of special duties allowance, in accordance with Rule 103.7;
(ii) The selection and promotion of staff members, dealt with in Chapter IV of these rules;
(iii) Transfers, temporary assignment of duties, and reduction in grade, dealt with in Chapter V; and
(iv) Separation from service and reduction in force, dealt with in Chapter X.
(i) A staff member who belongs to the career service or has been providing services under contract for a continuous period of three years or longer, and whose post has not been reviewed during the preceding twelve months, may request an individual review provided that he presents to the Director of the Department of Human Resource Services a completed Official Reclassification Request Form expressly describing the new duties and functions he is performing and other changes in his post which he believes may alter its classification. If the Department of Human Resource Services determines that substantial changes in the functions have occurred which might merit a change in the classification level of the post, it shall request a post description from the supervisor and shall conduct a review of the post. A review granted pursuant to such a request shall be conducted within six months from the date on which the Department received the request.
(j) When the periodic reviews to which this Rule refers are made, or in any other circumstance that is considered appropriate, the Department of Human Resource Services shall conduct manpower utilization studies and make proposals designed to obtain the best possible use of the human resources of the General Secretariat.
(k) Once the Secretary General has approved a classification decision, the Department of Human Resource Services shall notify the incumbent and the director of the Department or Office concerned of the decision and shall send them a corrected and certified copy of the description of the post.
(l) Subject to the approval of the required funds in the Program-Budget, the Secretary General shall conduct at least once every four or six years a Secretariat-wide audit, which shall be completed no later than six months prior to the review of the proposed budget for the subsequent biennium by the Preparatory Committee of the General Assembly, in accordance with Article 34 of the General Standards.
(m) The post review process set out in paragraphs (e), (f), and (g) of this Rule may be carried out by outside consultants, provided that they are sufficiently trained and experienced in the audit process to provide professional post audits and reviews at least equivalent in quality to those conducted by the staff of the Department of Human Resource Services.
(a) A staff member who is dissatisfied with the classification of his post resulting from a review made in accordance with Rule 102.3 above may be entitled to have his post reviewed again by a committee of trained specialists appointed by the Secretary General or an external classification specialist chosen from a panel selected with the participation of the Staff Committee, if he and the Secretary General so agree. Such an agreement may be reached either without resort to the reconsideration procedure referred to in Chapter XII of these Rules or under a conciliation arranged by the Joint Committee on Reconsideration pursuant to Rule 112.5(g). The agreement shall provide that the recommendations of the external specialist or the committee of trained specialists (as the case may be) are final and binding on all parties and that the staff member relinquishes the right to any further recourse in the matter. The external specialist or the committee of specialists (as the case may be) shall be instructed to limit itself to issuing a technical opinion on the classification of the post.
(b) In the absence of an agreement as provided for in paragraph (a) above, or as an alternative to it, the staff member may exercise his rights under Chapter XII of these Rules.
(c) To satisfy the requirements of Rules 112.1(a) and 112. 5(e), when a staff member requests a hearing or reconsideration relating to the classification of his post he must specify in his written request whether his grievance is based on (i) the omission of functions in the description of the post or (ii) the sufficiency of the post review conducted by the Department of Human Resource Services.
Rule 102.5 Liabilities and Disciplinary Measures
(a) Any supervisor who in assigning functions to a staff member under his supervision fails to comply with all the requirements set out in Rules 102.3 and 103.7 shall be personally liable for any monetary damages incurred by the General Secretariat resulting from such assignment and shall personally make full restitution to the General Secretariat for those damages, pursuant to Rule 103.1.
(b) Any supervisor who fails to observe the prohibitions regarding assignment of functions set forth in Rules 102.3 and 103.7 shall be subject to the disciplinary procedures set forth in Rule 110.5 and Chapter XI of these Rules. All disciplinary measures provided for under this Rule are cumulative and not mutually exclusive.
(c) Any supervisor who refuses to prepare a post description at the request of the Department of Human Resource Services shall be personally liable for the costs incurred by the General Secretariat as a result of that refusal, including the cost of contracting an outside consultant or other persons to prepare the post description requested.
