Recent Changes to the Five-Year Rule

Peace Corps Online: Peace Corps News: Special Reports: August 7, 2004: Director Gaddi Vasquez: The PCOL Interview: Recent Changes to the Five-Year Rule
What is the Five-Year Rule? What is the Five-Year Rule?
Legislation enacted in 1965 established a general five-year limit on Peace Corps employment explained in this Peace Corps memo in greater detail.

In February 2003, a change to the Five-Year rule was included in the Consolidated Apropriations Bill that passed Congress. The change exempted employees working in Safety and Security from the Five-Year rule. Director Vasquez sent letters to 54 members of Congress asking them to support this change.

On May 20, 2004 the House of Representatives passed the Peace Corps Safety and Security Bill that further expanded exemptions to the Five-Year rule to include employees working in the Medical Office and the Inspector General's office. At the Senate Hearings to consider the bill, PCOL wrote an editorial and submitted it as a statement to the Senate pointing out the flaw in the proposed bill that would expand the agency's Five-Year Rule creating a two-tiered employment structure at the agency.


By Admin1 (admin) (pool-151-196-239-147.balt.east.verizon.net - 151.196.239.147) on Saturday, September 04, 2004 - 12:57 pm: Edit Post

Director Gaddi Vasquez: The PCOL Interview - Recent Changes to the Five-Year Rule

Director Gaddi Vasquez: The PCOL Interview - Recent Changes to the Five-Year Rule

Director Gaddi Vasquez: The PCOL Interview - Recent Changes to the Five-Year Rule






Recent Changes to the Five-Year Rule

PCOL: In February, 2003 you wrote over 50 letters to members of the Senate and House asking them to support a change to the five year rule to exempt Peace Corps employees involved in Safety and Security from the five year rule. What was your rationale for supporting the change?


 Recent Changes to the Five-Year Rule

GV: I am not sure what letter you are referring to. The language to change the five year rule to create exemptions was Chairman Kolbe's language in appropriations, which was the genesis of the changes that have occurred and have resulted in waivers of the five year rule for employees who are working directly in safety and security.

PCOL: I am referring to the Consolidated Appropriations Bill of 2003 that was passed, I believe, on February 13, 2003 and there was a clause in there that exempted...

GV: That's correct.

PCOL: …employees involved in safety and security from the five year rule and you are saying that Chairman Kolbe was the originator of the...

GV: That is correct.

PCOL: Do you support that change to the five year rule or did you support the change?

GV: I did support that change to the five year rule.

PCOL: What was your rationale for supporting the change?

GV: The rationale is that safety and security are the highest priorities for the Peace Corps. The world changed on September 11. If the Peace Corps is going to grow, we must be more conscious and more diligent and deliberate in the framework we build for the safety and security of volunteers. Part of that process is establishing some continuity and institutional knowledge of safety and security issues.

By exempting the staff that are involved in day to day security issues, meaning 100 percent of their job is safety and security of the volunteer, we are able to maintain the continuity and the retention of institutional memory.

It is very difficult to lose someone who has learned the ropes of safety and security issues in the Peace Corps, which is a very unique undertaking. To lose that person and have to start over again jeopardizes that continuity.

We owe it to the volunteer, we owe it to their loved ones, and we owe it to the experience of the Peace Corps, to ensure that safety and security is optimum. We believe that by providing continuity, we can increase the conditions for an optimum experience.

PCOL: I know that you don't support the Peace Corps Safety and Security bill that came out of Chairman Hyde's committee and I know a couple of the reasons are that you don't see a reason for an Ombudsman and the independence of the Inspector General and I am going to ask you about that a little later. "Peace Corps Online" has also taken an editorial position opposing the Peace Corps Safety and Security bill but the reason that we oppose it is that it expands the exemptions so they are not just for safety and security personnel but also includes exemptions for personnel who work in health and medical services and personnel who work in the Inspector General's office.

Do you have a concern that now that the door has been opened to exemptions to the five year rule with the clause in the Consolidated Appropriations Bill of 2003 that there is going to be pressure from other groups or pressure from Congress to expand the exemptions to the five year rule even more and that there may be a danger that that the five year rule over time may disappear completely?


GV: I don't want to speculate on what Congress may or may not do. But, I think it is important to look at this in the phases in which it has been undertaken.

First of all, Chairman Kolbe suggested that the personnel who are involved in safety and security should be exempt from the five year rule in order for the Peace Corps to maintain the continuity of service that is important for the safety and security of the volunteer. I have no disagreement with that. I was authorized by Congress to conduct an internal assessment and ascertain which positions within the Peace Corps are dedicated to safety and security. I identified 23 positions, plus the 71 safety and security coordinators assigned to each post, to be exempt from the five year rule. Once you get past that first phase or grouping it gets a little more complicated because then you have to look and say "Well, Hugh Pickens, who works at the Peace Corps - 30 percent of his job involves safety and security, 70 percent is non-safety and security." That gets a little more complicated, because then you have to decide where the threshold is and if the person meets that test. To that end, Peace Corps has retained consultants to study the issue so there is a thorough, diligent, and very deliberate process in place to analyze who, beyond the initial 23, should be considered for exemption to the five year rule.

We need to be careful in examining this because I think the five year rule has served the Peace Corps well in some respects. I also believe that it presents some challenges. For example, when you have people who work in Information Technology, a very competitive field and an area of critical support to the Peace Corps, we have lost many a good candidate who has considered coming to work at the Peace Corps but has retreated from accepting a job as a result of the five year rule. I don't think that exempting people that work in those areas would be detrimental to the spirit and intent of the five year rule. But it's early, it's going to require a lot of analysis and study.

In the case of the Inspector General's Office, not all of the people who work in that office are involved in safety and security of volunteers, so you have to be careful that you don't blanket approve people who are not part of the safety and security infrastructure . You also have to be cautious in how you manage those transitions so you don't create an inequality of those who are subject to the five year rule against those who are not.

PCOL: So your position would be that we wait and see what the results are, how the exemptions that have already been approved work out and it's possible that you would support further exemptions of personnel for example in medical services, IT, or the Inspector General's Office for exemptions to the five year rule?

GV: I think we need to take a look at the spirit and intent of what Congress has articulated in the original language. But, the first phase includes those involved in safety and security of the volunteer. Let's examine those positions. Let's look at the classifications and descriptions. Let's look at what percentage of time they are involved in safety and security. Consequently, when we do those analyses, if we are very deliberate and diligent about it, I think we can achieve some success. I am not prepared to issue a broad statement that IT people should be exempt. It requires analysis, it requires study, and we are in the process of doing that.





Read our interview with Director Vasquez in this month's issue of PCOL Magazine:


Director Gaddi Vasquez: The PCOL Interview Director Gaddi Vasquez: The PCOL Interview
This month we sat down for an extended interview with Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez. Read the entire interview from start to finish and we promise you will learn something about the Peace Corps you didn't know before.

Then read the questions and answers one by one and leave your comments on the issues raised during the interview including Infrastructure Upgrades and the new Situation Room at Headquarters, Is there a Budget Crunch this year at Peace Corps, Peace Corps' Long Term Expansion, the Changes to the Five-Year Rule made last year, Safety and Security Issues, the Cooperative Agreement with NPCA, RPCVs in Policy Making Positions at Peace Corps Headquarters, Peace Corps' Departure from Russia in 2002, Director Vasquez's Accomplishments as Director, the Peace Corps Safety and Security Bill before Congress, Continuity at the Agency during Changes in Administration, the Community College Program, and the Director's Message to the Returned Volunteer Community.


Read the questions and answers and leave your comments.






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Story Source: PCOL Exclusive

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Peace Corps Directors - Vasquez; Five Year Rule

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