HARRY HUGHES, Governor                                        2619

in the classified or unclassified service involving comparable
duties, responsibilities, experience, and authority; or

(2) The contractual employment is exempt from
certification pursuant to this section.

(C) THE SECRETARY MAY NOT CONTINUE CERTIFICATION UNDER
SUBSECTION (B) OF THIS SECTION IF THE DEPARTMENT OF PERSONNEL THE
SECRETARY DETERMINES THAT THE SERVICES PERFORMED BY A CONTRACTUAL
EMPLOYEE:

(1)  ENCOMPASS PERMANENT FUNCTIONS;

(2)  HAVE NO EXISTING TERMINATION SPECIFIC EXPIRATION
DATE; AND

(3)  ARE REGULARLY PERFORMED ON A BASIS THAT IS AT
LEAST THE EQUIVALENT OF 50 PERCENT OF THE WORK RESPONSIBILITY OF
A FULL-TIME MERIT SYSTEM PERMANENT EMPLOYEE.

[(c)] (D) The Secretary may limit the effective term of the
certification required under subsection (b), but in no event may
the Secretary issue a certification with an effective term which
exceeds the term of the employment contract or agreement between
the executive agency and the contractual employee.

[(d)] (E) Recruitment and selection of any contractual
employee by an agency of the executive shall be conducted, to the
extent feasible, according to guidelines developed by the
Secretary of Personnel. The guidelines shall require:

(1)  A reasonable effort by the contracting authority
publicly to solicit applicants for the contractual employment;

(2)  A reasonable effort by the contracting authority
to screen and select contractual employees by methods and
criteria which are uniformly applied to all applicants for any
particular instance of contractual employment; and

(3)  Utilization of selection criteria for contractual
employees which are based upon qualifications of the applicant
exclusive of political or religious opinion or affiliation,
marital status, race, color, creed, national origin, sex,
physical or mental handicap, or age, except when sex, handicap,
or age involves a bona fide job requirement.

[(e)] (F) The Secretary of Personnel periodically shall
audit a sample of instances of contractual employment in the
various agencies of the executive to determine whether
justification exists for continuation of the certification
required under subsection (b); and to determine whether the
guidelines required by subsection (d) have been followed.

[(f)] (G) If, as the result of an audit pursuant to
subsection (e), the Secretary determines that the services being