5 U.S.C. § 3134 — Limitations on noncareer and limited appointments

(a) Each calendar year, each agency must (1) examine its need for noncareer appointees for the next fiscal year and (2) ask OPM in writing, as OPM's regulations require, for authority to employ a specific number. (b) OPM sets each agency's number annually based on demonstrated need. All agencies together may not have more than 10 percent of all Senior Executive Service positions in noncareer appointees. (c) Within that 10-percent limit, OPM may adjust an agency's authorized number when unforeseen emergency needs arise. (d) An agency's Service positions filled by noncareer appointees may not exceed the greater of (1) 25 percent of the agency's total Service positions, or (2) the number that, when the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 was enacted, were filled by noncareer executive assignments under the then-effective regulation or by level IV or V Executive Schedule appointments that did not then require Senate advice and consent. This subsection does not apply to an agency with fewer than four Service positions. (e) All limited emergency and limited term appointees together may not exceed 5 percent of all Service positions in all agencies.