Government appeals for private employers to hire the hardcore unemployed are logically answered by the query: "Does the Federal Government, the Nation's largest employer, have its own house in order?" This paper explores the extent to which permanent civil service jobs have been opened to the disadvantaged. Problems discovered are similar to those faced in the private sector--employing the disadvantaged conflicts with the desire to hire the best personnel, and it challenges the merit system. An understanding of the philosophy and procedures of the civil service and the constraints they impose on efforts to hire the disadvantaged is necessary to evaluate the attempts being made to resolve the inherent conflict. Washington, D.C. and San Francisco provide contrasting studies of the efforts and the constraints within the service. The paper concludes with proposals for widening access to federal employment for the disadvantaged without abandoning the essential objectives merit employment was designed to accomplish. (Author/BH)