The Oklahoma Merit Protection Commission (OMPC) is an independent quasi-judicial agency of the government of Oklahoma established to protect the integrity of state’s merit system utilized by state agencies and their employees. The Commission and the Office of Personnel Management act independently forming a “checks and balances” method of managing the merit system.
The Commission is composed of nine members, two appointed by the President pro tempore of the Oklahoma Senate, two by the Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, and five by the Governor of Oklahoma. The Commission, in turn, appoints an Executive Director and administrative law judges to hear disputes.
The Commission was created in 1982 by the
Oklahoma Personnel Act during the term of Governor
George Nigh
George Patterson Nigh (born June 9, 1927) is an American politician and civic leader from the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Nigh served as the 17th and the 22nd governor of Oklahoma and as the eighth and tenth lieutenant governor of Oklahoma. He was th ...
.
Functions
The Commission's functions are established b
O.S. 74 840-1.9and are listed below in part:
*Receive and act on complaints, counsel persons and groups on their rights and duties and take action designed to obtain voluntary compliance with the provisions of the Oklahoma Personnel Act
*Investigate allegations of violations of the provisions of th
within its jurisdiction
*Investigate allegations of abuses in the employment practices of the Administrator of the
Oklahoma Office of Personnel Management
The Oklahoma Office of Personnel Management (OPM) was an agency of the government of Oklahoma which was dissolved in 2011. OPM managed the civil service of the state government. OPM previously provided comprehensive human resource services to all ...
or of any other state agency
*Investigate allegations of violations of the rules of the Merit System of Personnel Administration and prohibited activities in the classified service
*Establish and maintain a statewide Alternative Dispute Resolution Program to provide dispute resolution services for state agencies and employees. Actions agreed upon through the Alternative Dispute Resolution Program provided by the Commission shall be consistent with applicable laws and rules and shall not alter, reduce, or modify any existing right or authority as provided by statute or rule
*Establish rules, pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act as may be necessary to perform the duties and functions of the Commission including, but not limited to, rules to monitor state agency grievance processes to ensure full compliance with the law. The Commission may also recommend any changes it deems necessary to improve such grievance processes to the appropriate state agency
*Establish guidelines for the qualifications, duties, responsibilities, authority, power, and continued employment of the Executive Director, Administrative Hearing Officers, mediators, and other resolution arbitrators or facilitators
In addition to its original functions, this agency is now responsible for providing training on the grievance process, the appeals process, the steps of the Progressive Discipline in state employment and training for its administrative law judges. Agency functions also include a component designed to assist agencies in voluntarily complying with the Oklahoma Personnel Act.
Classified and unclassified
The Commission has jurisdiction over state employees that are in the classified service and limited jurisdiction over state employees in the unclassified service. That means all state employees and positions which are subject to the laws of the Oklahoma State Personnel Act and the decisions of the Commission. The two primary distinctions between classified and unclassified employees are as follows:
*Unclassified employees serve at the pleasure of the Appointing Authority. They may be removed from their position at any time, with or without cause, and have no right to appeal their termination to the Commission.
*Unclassified employees are non-competitive positions. They are appointed by the Appointing Authority without regard to merit provisions, such as a public publishing of the open position and/or ratings of eligible candidates.
Leadership
Members of the Commission
The Commission is composed of nine members, each serving three year terms. Two members of the Commission are appointed by the
President pro tempore of the Oklahoma Senate
The President ''pro tempore'' of the Oklahoma Senate is the second-highest-ranking official of the Oklahoma Senate and the highest-ranking state senator. The Oklahoma Constitution designates the Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma as the highest-r ...
, two are appointed by the
Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives
The Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives is the speaker (politics), presiding officer of the lower house of the Oklahoma Legislature, the Oklahoma House of Representatives. The speaker exercises administrative and procedural functions ...
, and five members are appointed by the
Governor of Oklahoma
The governor of Oklahoma is the head of government of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Under the Oklahoma Constitution, the governor serves as the head of the Oklahoma Executive (government), executive branch, of the government of Oklahoma. The gove ...
. Of the Governor's appointees, no more than four may be from the same
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
.
As of 2016, the members of the Commission are as follows:
*Chair Gene Moses
*Vice-Chair Charles Burton
*Eric Blakeney
*Samuel Fulkerson
*DeWade Langley
*Marianne Miller
*Scott Maule
*Kim Neese
*Jason Reese
External links
Merit Protection Commission official website
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Office of Personnel Management
An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific duti ...