Under the new PPR rules, it will be possible for an agency to reduce its "unrated" (previously known as "Satisfactory by Default") rate, since an employee who is unrated on his anniversary date may obtain a rating by requesting a review from the Reviewer. An employee may receive an "unrated" due to two circumstances—1.) the rating was not conducted at all or 2.) the rating was conducted, but was not compliant due a technicality, the most common one being un-timeliness.

Some have expressed concerns that supervisors may fail to give the employee a copy of Page 1 of the PPR Form with the official rating of "unrated" on it, as required in the rules. This may result in an employee who is not fully aware that he/she is "unrated", and the employee may thus miss the "window of opportunity" to request the review. It is recommended that the HR office develop some procedure for notifying employees that they are "unrated", along with notice of the employee’s right to request a review, to ensure the employee receives a notice of his "unrated" status even if the supervisor fails to notify the employee.

The procedure developed below is one method of making the notification and beginning the process of conducting a rating session for the employee and rendering a rating.

If it comes to your attention that an employee is "unrated" on his anniversary date, you may intervene in order to speed up the rating process and avoid appeals (requests for review.) The following is a simple procedure which you may use or adapt as needed:

1. It comes to your attention that an employee has not received an official rating by his anniversary date, thereby making his official rating "unrated" effective the day after his anniversary date.
   
2. You may contact the Reviewer and request that the Reviewer initiate contact with the employee.
   
3. The rules state that an employee who disagrees with his rating (this includes employees whose rating status is "unrated") must request a review, and the request must be received no later than 15 days after the anniversary date {Rule 10.13(a) and (b)}. There is no provision in the rules for the Reviewer to proceed with an actual review session without such a request from the employee.

Therefore, when the Reviewer contacts the employee to perform the rating, the Reviewer should get a signed statement from the employee, requesting the review. The statement must be signed and dated within 15 days after the employee’s anniversary date. The statement should include the information that the employee is aware that his rating status is "unrated", and that he/she is requesting a rating. A sample statement is included – you may use the attached or develop your own, or you may ask that the employee write his own request . (The sample statement that is included also includes an option for an employee to request a review in the event he did receive a rating with which he disagrees).

After the statement is signed, the Reviewer has 30 days to complete the review and issue the rating. Refer to the Frequently Asked Questions on the PPR Website regarding how a Reviewer is advised to deal with a request for a review of an "unrated" rating.

BE AWARE OF THE FOLLOWING: If the employee chooses not to request a review of his/her "unrated" rating, the Reviewer cannot proceed with the rating, and the employee will remain "unrated". The employee should be made aware that his rating status will remain "unrated" if he/she fails to request the review.

4. In cases where an employee is "unrated" due to an extended absence and no rating can be performed, the circumstances of the "unrated" should be noted on the PPR form and maintained in your files. When reporting your yearly statistics to Civil Service at the end of the fiscal year, you may also wish to note on the report these circumstances to distinguish them from other "unrateds" reported.

Sample Request For Review of Rating Form  
(this form can be used for request of review of any overall rating)