Comments:

February 18, 2005

  DoD NSPS Comments

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   DoD NSPS Comments:

  I write to express my concerns about changes to work rules in the Department of Defense (DoD).  The proposed regulations, known as the National Security Personnel System (NSPS), were printed in the Federal Register on February 14, 2005.  This message will be sent to both DoD and my representatives in Congress. 

“In the military, morale is crucial to mission success and can make the difference between living and dying,” said Don Hale, a Marine Corps veteran and a current civilian defense employee at the Military Academy at West Point.

  Hale said the workplace environment and morale on military installations would be impacted adversely by NSPS. He explained that because many civilian defense employees work along side military personnel, the uniformed military would also be impacted by a low morale work environment.

  In the case of a reduction in force, a one-year employee with an “outstanding” rating would be retained over a 20-year employee with an “excellent” rating, according to the American Federation of Government Employees. When disciplinary actions are appealed to either the Merit Systems Protection Board or an arbitrator, neither would be able to substitute a lesser penalty unless the penalty was “wholly unjustifiable” – a standard some consider impossible to overcome. Employee advocates also object to the system’s inclusion of mandatory removal offenses, which require termination of the alleged offender’s employment for the most serious offenses. The Transportation Security Administration, for example, considers theft and illegal drug use MROs.

  “When an employer has the power to mess with people’s pay and work schedules arbitrarily, workforce morale will suffer,” Hale said. “We’ve got to be absolutely sure we make every effort to support our troops. We must not undermine our efforts in these trying times by lowering the morale of those American who support our troops every day on the job.”