How will Public Health Service Officers be integrated into FSIS?
FSIS will have mentors assigned to each new Public Health Officer detailed to the Agency. These mentors, who are career FSIS employees, will be in the same program area and will work closely with the new commissioned corps officers. Their purpose is to provide a complete orientation to the roles and responsibilities required of their position in the Agency, and they will be there to assist with any questions or concerns during their transition. Do Public Health Officers outrank their career FSIS employee counterparts since they (Commissioned Corps) wear uniforms? One should not automatically assume that since the Commissioned Corps Officers wear a uniform, they automatically outrank their FSIS counterparts. They will be held accountable to their colleagues and report to their FSIS supervisors who very well may not be in the Commissioned Corps – just like every other FSIS employee. The Commissioned Corps Officer ranks are comparable to the following GS grades: • Lieutenant (0-3) = GS 9/
