Union asks court to block federal internship program

Agencies are using a federal internship program in a way that undermines competitive hiring procedures in the government, a large federal employee union charged in a lawsuit filed Wednesday.

The Office of Personnel Management has not placed enough limits on agencies' use of the Federal Career Intern Program, the National Treasury Employees Union alleged in the suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The union asked the court to declare OPM's regulations implementing the program illegal.

The program, established in 2000 and administered by OPM using rules finalized in 2005, allows agencies to hire interns for two years through excepted service appointments. After that period is up, agencies can appoint successful program participants to full-time civil service positions without competition.

In the lawsuit, NTEU argues that the program "gives the appearance of being a limited, special-focus hiring program" but is actually becoming "the hiring method of choice for many federal jobs" and is undercutting merit system principles.

The number of employees hired under the program ballooned to more than 11,000 by fiscal 2005, from about 400 in fiscal 2001, NTEU said. The number hired through competitive processes fell during that period, according to the union.

This hurts union members at agencies using the program, including the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, by denying them the "opportunity to be competitively examined under the fair and open process prescribed by statute and regulations governing appointments to the competitive service," the complaint stated. Federal law only allows agencies to stray from competitive hiring procedures when necessary for "conditions of good administration," the lawsuit said.

In a separate line of argument, NTEU claimed the program is detrimental even to participants, by giving them what is in effect a two-year probationary period, rather than the one-year trial term typical for entry-level competitive government positions.

OPM officials are reviewing the lawsuit, but cannot comment on ongoing litigation, said Michael Orenstein, an agency spokesman.

Proponents of the internship program have hailed it as an effective way to bring fresh talent into the government, allowing agencies to undertake more targeted recruitment. A Merit Systems Protection Board study in September said the program has "had an auspicious beginning" but noted several flaws, including a reliance on limited tools to recruit applicants.