5 U.S.C. § 3101 General Authority to Employ

• Library: United States Statutes
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through P.L. 118-34 (published on www.congress.gov on 12/26/2023), except for [P. L. 118-31]
• Year: 2023
• Citation: 5 U.S.C. § 3101

Each Executive agency, military department, and the government of the District of Columbia may employ such number of employees of the various classes recognized by chapter 51 of this title as Congress may appropriate for from year to year.

Cite as 5 U.S.C. § 3101

Source: Pub. L. 89-554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 414.

Notes from the Office of Law Revision Counsel

current through 8/1/2023

<TABLE> <TR><TD colspan="3">HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD>Derivation</TD> <TD>U.S. Code</TD> <TD>Revised Statutes and <para>Statutes at Large</para> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD/> <TD> <codecitation statecd="US" datatype="S" title="5">5 U.S.C. <codesec>43</codesec></codecitation>.</TD> <TD>R.S. §169. <para>June 26, 1930, ch. 618, 46 Stat. 817.</para> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD/> <TD> <codecitation statecd="US" datatype="S" title="5">5 U.S.C. <codesec>514d</codesec></codecitation> (2d par.).</TD> <TD>Sept. 21, 1944, ch. 412, §709, 58 Stat. 743.</TD> </TR> </TABLE>

The authorization is restated to conform to the style of this title. The word "Executive agency" are substituted for "executive department, independent establishment" in view of the definitions in sections 103, 104, and 105. The source statute (an act to authorize the appointment of employees in the executive branch etc.) applied to the entire executive branch, and government corporations as well as other agencies in the executive branch were included within the words "independent establishment". The words "or a military department" are inserted to preserve the application of the source statute. Before enactment of the National Security Act Amendments of 1949 (63 Stat. 578), the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, and the Department of the Air Force were Executive departments. The National Security Act Amendments of 1949 established the Department of Defense as an Executive department including the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, and the Department of the Air Force as military departments, not as Executive departments. However, the source statute for this subsection, which was in effect in 1949, remained applicable to the Secretaries of the military departments by virtue of section 12(g) of the National Security Act Amendments of 1949 (63 Stat. 591), which is set out in the reviser's note for section 301. The words "for services in the District of Columbia or elsewhere" are eliminated as surplusage. The reference to chapter 51 is substituted for the reference to the Classification Act of 1923 because the Act of Oct. 28, 1949, ch. 782, §1106(a), 63 Stat. 972, amended the section to refer to the Classification Act of 1949, which is carried into this title. The proviso in former section 43 and former section 514d (2d par.) are omitted as superseded by former section 22a, which is carried into section 302. The last sentence of the Act of June 26, 1930, is omitted as executed.

This section was part of title IV of the Revised Statutes. The Act of July 26, 1947, ch. 343, §201(d), as added Aug. 10, 1949, ch. 412, §4, 63 Stat. 579 (former 5 U.S.C. 171-1 ), which provides "Except to the extent inconsistent with the provisions of this Act [National Security Act of 1947], the provisions of title IV of the Revised Statutes as now or hereafter amended shall be applicable to the Department of Defense" is omitted from this title but is not repealed.

Standard changes are made to conform with the definitions applicable and the style of this title as outlined in the preface to the report.

STATUTORY NOTES AND RELATED SUBSIDIARIES

REPORTS ON POLITICAL APPOINTEES APPOINTED TO NONPOLITICAL PERMANENT POSITIONS

Pub. L. 114-136, §4, Mar. 18, 2016, 130 Stat. 305, provided that:

"(a) DEFINITIONS.-In this section-

"(1) the term 'agency' has the meaning given the term 'Executive agency' in section 105 of title 5, United States Code;

"(2) the term 'covered civil service position' means a position in the civil service (as defined in section 2101 of title 5, United States Code) that is not-

"(A) a temporary position; or

"(B) a political position;

"(3) the term 'former political appointee' means an individual who-

"(A) is not serving in an appointment to a political position; and

"(B) served as a political appointee during the 5-year period ending on the date of the request for an appointment to a covered civil service position in any agency;

"(4) the term 'political appointee' means an individual serving in an appointment to a political position; and

"(5) the term 'political position' means-

"(A) a position described under sections 5312 through 5316 of title 5, United States Code (relating to the Executive Schedule);

"(B) a noncareer appointment in the Senior Executive Service, as defined under paragraph (7) of section 3132(a) of title 5, United States Code; or

"(C) a position in the executive branch of the Government of a confidential or policy-determining character under schedule C of subpart C of part 213 of title 5, Code of Federal Regulations.

"(b) REPORTING ON CURRENT OR RECENT POLITICAL APPOINTEES APPOINTED TO COVERED CIVIL SERVICE POSITIONS.-

"(1) ANNUAL REPORT.-Except as provided in paragraph (2), the Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform [now Committee on Oversight and Accountability] of the House of Representatives an annual report regarding requests by agencies to appoint political appointees or former political appointees to covered civil service positions. Each report shall cover one calendar year and shall-