Deck 8: The Civil Service

Question 1

Both AIDS testing and urine testing of government employees are associated with ______.

A) the right to privacy
B) political activity
C) the Hatch Act
D) collective bargaining

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Internships, the Recent Graduates Program, and the Presidential Management Fellows program are examples of what federal government hiring strategy?

A) an experiential learning focus
B) pathways
C) stars
D) bridges

Answer 2

B

Question 3

All of these methods have been used to reduce the workforce EXCEPT ______.

A) buyouts
B) promotions
C) RIFs
D) transfers

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The Hatch Act prohibits federal workers from ______.

A) being involved in political campaigns
B) benefiting from patronage
C) rejecting their right to privacy
D) joining a union

Question 5

What is the process for defining position descriptions, responsibilities, and degrees of difficulty?

A) operations analysis
B) position classification
C) position notching
D) billet analysis

Question 6

What is the civil service system?

A) the collection of rules and procedures that govern the employees who work in career positions in government
B) the identification of the specific knowledge a job requires, the job's level of difficulty, and the job's responsibilities
C) the collection of government positions
D) the collection of rules and procedures that govern agencies in the federal government

Question 7

All of the following people are given preference for government employment EXCEPT ______.

A) females
B) veterans
C) teachers
D) minorities

Question 8

Three Supreme Court decisions have tested the constitutionality of requiring party membership for government jobs, which is otherwise known as ______.

A) political limitations
B) buyouts
C) the right to privacy
D) patronage

Question 9

What strategy for reducing federal employment roles allows the government to pay employees lump sums in exchange for resigning from their positions?

A) annuities
B) riffing
C) buyouts
D) merit promotions

Question 10

What is the typical reason that federal employees leave their jobs?

A) to retire or take another job
B) to run for political office
C) to enter graduate school
D) because of disciplinary actions

Question 11

Which group is given preference for government employment?

A) youth
B) teachers
C) veterans
D) seniors

Question 12

President Reagan fired 11,000 air traffic controllers because ______.

A) they encouraged political activity
B) they were part of reductions in force
C) they were striking
D) they were underperforming

Question 13

The "rule of three" is generally the first step in ______.

A) the hiring process for someone currently working within government civil service
B) promoting someone working within government civil service
C) the hiring process for a person currently not working in government civil service
D) firing someone at the G-7 level

Question 14

Because federal government mostly prohibits its employees from striking, employees ______.

A) never work diligently, even if their working demands are being met
B) never engage in sustained job actions that cripple public administration
C) always work diligently, even if their working demands are not being met
D) sometimes engage in sustained job actions that cripple public administration

Question 15

What process determines the expertise, level of difficulty, and level of responsibility necessary for a particular job?

A) unionization
B) grade creep
C) position classification
D) buyout

Question 16

Three fundamental elements of the civil service system are ______.

A) pay, performance, and vacation
B) classification, staffing, and compensation
C) health insurance, office space, and direct deposit
D) classification, staffing, and paperwork

Question 17

Which of the following terms refers to an involuntary layoff or termination of government employees?

A) grade creep
B) buyouts
C) position classification
D) reductions in force

Question 18

What state recently redesigned its civil service hiring strategy to be résumé rather than testing based?

A) Ohio
B) Kentucky
C) South Carolina
D) Wisconsin

Question 19

What effect do buyouts and reductions in force have on the government workforce?

A) transfer of responsibilities
B) expansion of benefits
C) reductions in numbers of employees
D) reductions in scope of responsibility

Question 20

A government agency can hire according to any of the following methods EXCEPT ______.

A) promoting from executive to full professional
B) promoting a civil servant
C) transferring a civil servant
D) through the register

Question 21

Government unionization has ______ slightly since the early 2000s but is still ______ prevalent than unionization in the private sector.

A) increased; less
B) decreased; more
C) stayed the same; less
D) fluctuated; more

Question 22

Since 2000, public sector union representation ______.

A) has stayed about the same
B) has decreased slightly across federal, state, and local governments
C) has increased across federal, state, and local governments
D) has decreased at the state and local levels but increased dramatically at the federal level

Question 23

______ prohibits federal workers from being involved in political campaigns.

A) The Pendleton Civil Service Act
B) The Hatch Act
C) The Civil Service Reform Act
D) The Model Cities Act

Question 24

Federal pay tends to be higher than or equivalent with private-sector pay.

Question 25

______ are the clerical levels in the federal civil service system.

A) GS 1-8
B) GS 7-9
C) GS 10-16
D) GS 13-15

Question 26

What are revolving door provisions?

Question 27

______ can occur when government agencies try to seek higher classifications for existing positions.

A) Grade creep
B) Reductions in force
C) Buyout
D) A grade decrease

Question 28

What are buyouts?

Question 29

OPM has given agencies ______ flexibility in devising the best tests for their potential employees.

A) some
B) no
C) greater
D) unlimited

Question 30

Employees already holding career positions in civil service advance principally by reductions in force (RIFs).

Question 31

Since 2000, private sector union representation ______.

A) has increased
B) has decreased
C) was declared unconstitutional
D) did nothing because it does not exist

Question 32

How does position classification for government agencies work?

Question 33

With the exception of employees with advanced education or credentials, how does federal government pay compare to that in the private sector?

A) pay is much less
B) pay is much more
C) pay is about the same
D) the pay is slightly more

Question 34

Dating as far back as the Pendleton Civil Service Act of 1883, several principals have distinguished the civil service from other types of careers.What are those characteristics?

Question 35

Can federal employees strike? Why or why not?

Question 36

The term five-point veteran refers to the number of years that a veteran served in the armed forces that can be applied toward federal retirement.

Question 37

Union relationships with the federal government are different from those with the private sector.

Question 38

Which federal government job applicants receive preferences for government positions? Is this strategy fair? Why or why not?

Question 39

In the context of civil service merit promotion, what is a "chain reaction"?

Question 40

Revolving-door restrictions allow federal employees to move easily between federal agencies and private-sector businesses with which they have conducted official government business.

Question 41

What is the Hatch Act, and how did it affect public employees?

Question 42

What underlies the notion that federal employees should be paid comparably to private sector employees?

Question 43

What are some of the qualities unique to the public sector regarding unionization?