City of St. Louis Department of Personnel Administrative Regulation NO. 119

Temporary Clerical Services

The Department of Personnel has a contract for temporary clerical services for all City operating departments. The purpose of this arrangement is to provide adequate clerical coverage for City agencies experiencing temporary shortages in this area. Following are the guidelines to be followed in using this service.

I. WHEN TEMPORARIES CAN BE USED:

Temporary clerical workers may be appointed for a period not to exceed four months when funds are available in the personal services account of the user department and when one of the following conditions have been met:

A. The position is seasonal in nature and the Department of Personnel cannot recruit qualified eligibles for limited-term appointment. This does not apply to special programs for which program aides are normally hired.

B. The position has been temporarily vacated due to paid or non- paid leave granted to the regular incumbent and when the operating department is unable to reassign another regular employee from the department or redistribute the workload until the incumbent returns from leave.

C. Other emergency situations which require immediately filling the position. These particular situations will be considered on an individual basis.

II. HOW TO FILL A TEMPORARY CLERICAL POSITION

All temporary clerical positions under the agreement will be filled through the Department of Personnel. Operating department personnel should not contact the provider to fill a position. Payment for unauthorized services will not be made. In order to fill a temporary job, it is necessary to:

A. Complete a Personnel Requisition form in the regular manner. The form has been revised and now includes a space for "Temporary Clerical Services". This box should be checked, the duration of the assignment should be included, and the reason for requesting the temporary help. All other pertinent information should be reported on the form, including the job title (see attached list), brief job description, the name and telephone number of the immediate supervisor of the temporary, the exact work location, and any essential special qualifications the temporary should have. Please note that with jobs requiring use of computer and/or word processing equipment, it is important that you indicate which type of equipment is to be used, the software to be used, the keyboard type, percentage of time word processing/computer tasks will be performed, and any other special requirements. By immediately providing this information on the requisition form, unnecessary delays will be avoided when your order is placed with the provider.

B. Submit the requisition form to the Personnel Services Section of the Department of Personnel as much in advance of the anticipated starting date as possible.

C. The Recruitment and Examination Section of the Department of Personnel will contact the provider and arrange for the temporary to report when required. If, for any reason, it is not possible to fill your temporary vacancy, you will be notified immediately in order that any possible alternate arrangement can be made. You will also receive a confirmation call from the Recruitment and Examination Section when your order has been filled.

III. TIME-KEEPING AND BILLING PROCEDURES:

A. The temporary clerical workers assigned to your department will be responsible for keeping their own time records. At the end of each week, the temporary is required to total the time worked during the week and submit their time card to their immediate supervisor at the operating department. It is the supervisor's responsibility to assure that the temporary has accurately documented their hours worked. After the time card has been reviewed and signed by the supervisor, the temporary will provide a copy of the weekly time card to the supervisor, keep a copy for their own personal records, and mail the original to the provider for billing/payroll purposes. The Department of Personnel will receive a copy of this time card with the invoice.

B. All invoices for temporary clerical services will be sent directly to the Department of Personnel. The Recruitment and Examination Section will verify that the temporary was authorized and the Personnel Service Section will prepare the voucher for payment, charging the appropriate amount to your personal services account according to the time card received with the invoice. You will receive from the Department of Personnel a copy of the invoice and the voucher.

IV. GENERAL

Periodically, during the temporary work assignment, the provider will send to the user department an evaluation form for you to evaluate the services provided by the particular temporary worker. Please take care to see that these evaluations are completed fairly and accurately. It is important not only for the City to ensure the quality of services provided under this arrangement, but also it is important to the providers and the temporary workers themselves. When a temporary worker receives excellent evaluations from the department assigned, and if you should ever need to request similar services in the future, the primary provider has assured us that every attempt will be made to send the same temporary worker back to your department. On the other hand, if at any time you are dissatisfied with the services of a particular temporary, call the Recruitment and Examination Section immediately so that the problem can be resolved. There may also be occasions when the provider calls your department to inquire about the performance of the temporaries.

This program is designed to provide flexibility in an area where we have been experiencing a great deal of difficulty in meeting the operating departments' needs. The success of the program will depend, for the most part, on the operating departments. The use of the temporaries will be closely monitored by the Department of Personnel. It is important that appointing authorities also closely monitor the use of temporaries within their agencies.

If for any reason it becomes necessary to retain the temporary assignment longer than originally anticipated, it will be necessary for the appointing authority to request the extension in writing prior to the end of the assignment but the extension under no circumstances can exceed 120 days.

If you have any questions concerning this administrative regulation, please contact the Recruitment and Examination Section at 622-4308 or Personnel Services Section at 622-3567 of the Department of Personnel.

DEPARTMENT OF PERSONNEL

William C. Duffe
Director of Personnel

Revised and Reissued August 18, 1992

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