Presidential transition guide offers advice

Presidential appointees, non-career and limited Senior Executive Service employees and Schedule C employees are generally eligible for federal unemployment benefits. However, to avoid any possible bureaucratic hangup, OPM warns those who have not been through a transition before to state clearly on the federal SF-50 Notification of Personnel Action form and all claims inquiry forms that the involuntary job loss was “separation due to change in agency leadership” or “separation due to transition to new presidential administration.” The guide also has other useful legal information for incoming transition teams. It identifies how officials must deal with lobbyists during the transition, how departing employees must leave official records in the custody of the agency they are leaving, and how non-career employees can use outplacement services that an agency establishes for all its employees. Positions that are generally subject to change during presidential transitions — the plum jobs -- are listed in a document called United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions, commonly known as the Plum Book. OPM prepares the document every four years at the request of Congress and publishes it after the election in November on its Web site.