---
kind: "section"
citation: "5 U.S.C. § 3330e"
title: "5"
title_heading: "Government Organization and Employees"
number: "3330e"
heading: "Review of official personnel file of former Federal employees before rehiring"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/5/3330e"
units:
  - "Part III — Employees"
  - "Subpart B — Employment and Retention"
  - "Chapter 33 — Examination, Selection, and Placement"
  - "Subchapter I — Examination, Certification, and Appointment"
---

# §3330e. Review of official personnel file of former Federal employees before rehiring

- (a) If a former [Government](/usc/5/4101.md?p=3) [employee](/usc/5/4701.md?p=a-2) is a candidate for a [position](/usc/5/5102.md?p=a-3) within the competitive [service](/usc/5/8401.md?p=26) or the excepted [service](/usc/5/8401.md?p=26), prior to making any determination with respect to the appointment or reinstatement of such [employee](/usc/5/4701.md?p=a-2) to such [position](/usc/5/5102.md?p=a-3), the [appointing authority](/usc/5/9201.md?p=2) shall review and consider merit-based information relating to such [employee](/usc/5/4701.md?p=a-2)’s former period or periods of [service](/usc/5/8401.md?p=26) such as official personnel actions, [employee](/usc/5/4701.md?p=a-2) performance ratings, and disciplinary actions, if any, in such [employee](/usc/5/4701.md?p=a-2)’s official personnel record file.
- (b) In [subsection (a)](#a), the term “former [Government](/usc/5/4101.md?p=3) [employee](/usc/5/4701.md?p=a-2)” means an individual whose most recent [position](/usc/5/5102.md?p=a-3) with the [Government](/usc/5/4101.md?p=3) prior to becoming a candidate as described under [subsection (a)](#a) was within the competitive [service](/usc/5/8401.md?p=26) or the excepted [service](/usc/5/8401.md?p=26).
- (c) The [Office](/usc/5/5402.md?p=3) of Personnel Management shall prescribe regulations to carry out the purpose of this section. Such regulations may not contain provisions that would increase the time required for [agency](/usc/5/3132.md?p=a-1) hiring actions.

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 114–328, div. A, title XI, § 1136(a), Dec. 23, 2016, 130 Stat. 2460.)

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date

Pub. L. 114–328, div. A, title XI, § 1136(b), Dec. 23, 2016, 130 Stat. 2460, provided that: “The amendment made by subsection (a) [enacting this section] shall apply to any former Government employee (as described in section 3330e of title 5, United States Code, as added by such subsection) appointed or reinstated on or after the date that is 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act [Dec. 23, 2016].”