Comment Number: EM-010814
Received: 3/8/2005 7:01:42 AM
Subject: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Request for Comment
Title: National Security Personnel System
CFR Citation: 5 CFR Chapter XCIX and Part 9901
No Attachments

Comments:

March 8, 2005 DoD NSPS Comments , 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. I have worked for DoD for years. I am angry that these proposals seem to treat the employees who help defend our country as the enemy. Most DoD employees work hard and are committed. I believe that mistreating the employees will hurt the agency?s mission. I am very upset by NSPS. This system will change the way workers are paid, evaluated, promoted, fired, scheduled, and treated. These rules would create a system in which federal managers are influenced by favoritism rather than serving the civil concerns of the American people. Annual Pay Raises Under the General Schedule and FWS, employee pay was clear. It was funded by Congress and could not be taken away. However, NSPS will take away this certainty. Salaries and bonuses are funded by DoD. In the past ? as recently as just last year ? DoD did not fund its awards program. Given the agency?s miserable record on this issue, how can employees feel confident that our salaries and bonuses will be funded in the future? ?Friend of the Supervisor? Pay System With the new patronage pay system, which DoD calls ?pay for performance,? the amount of a worker's salary will depend almost completely on the personal judgment of his or her manager. This system will force workers to compete with one another for pay raises, which will destroy teamwork, increase conflict among employees, and reward short-term outcomes. There is no guarantee that even the best workers will receive a pay raise or that the pay offered will be fair or competitive. This system will create a situation in which workers are in conflict with one another and afraid to speak out about harassment, violations of the law, and workplace safety problems. Furthermore, there will be no impartial appeal system to assure that everyone is treated fairly. Schedules and Overtime NSPS will allow managers to schedule employees to work without sufficient advance notice of schedule changes. This will make it extremely difficult for working parents to care for their children and family. It will also mean that abusive managers could harass employees with bad schedules or short notice. Overtime rotations can be canceled, which means that employees may not be able to plan adequately for childcare and other important responsibilities. Civilian Deployment Federal employees could be assigned anywhere in the world, even into a war zone, with little or no notice. I am proud to serve my country but I am also responsible for caring for my family and my personal obligations at home. We signed up for a civilian job. We did not enlist in the military. Today?s volunteer system works well. America is at war. We are fighting for democracy abroad. But the regulations are an attack on workers? basic rights. Furthermore, NSPS will divert the attention of defense workers from the soldiers? welfare to protecting themselves from abuse on the job. I urge you to force DoD to rethink this proposal. We need work rules that preserve fairness, serve the American people, and respect the rights of Defense Department workers. Senators/Representatives. Has your staff read and correctly briefed you on the NSPS for Department of Defense that is starting this summer? This is not a good plan. I do agree that the current Civil Service system could use an overhaul but this is NOT IT!! The way the current proposal reads, if I "disobey" my Managers to obey the US Code, I can be fired and have no redress. I followed US Code in the past and disobeyed one of my Managers during my Civil Service Career. This 'conflict' with my Manager went all the way to DODIG and my Manager immediately "retired" because of his attempts to hide the wrongful things he had done during his career. I have seen collusion, corruption, and been subjected to harassment during my 30 years in the Army Reserves and my 20 years with Civil Service. I was raped on Active Duty with the Army Reserves and it was shoved under the carpet because of the good old boys network that was in place in the 1970s. I was sexually harrassed by one Civil Service Supervisor and so were several other women. We were placed elsewhere to work and he was removed from supervision because we were protected under current regulations. Under this new plan we will have to have sex with these jerks or face being fired. Also, I turned a Deputy Director in to CID and told them where to find all the collusion with one of the Contractors that they had been looking for and could not find. Again, had this been under this new NSPS plan, I would have been fired with no redress. If this new NSPS plan is allowed by Congress, I will probably keep my month shut about anything that could get me fired under this new plan. This also means that if I have to sleep with my Supervisor to keep from losing my job I will consider it because I will have NO PROTECTION from his decisions regarding my performance appraisal if I don't. Secondly, I do not think I will care any longer what it costs the taxpayers, because if I try to safeguard the Funds of the United States, I could get fired for disobeying an order and if I try to tell someone else, I could get fired for 'whistleblowing". The Civil Service Plan was written to prevent this kind of corruption, collusion, abuse, and harassment. The new NSPS plan is a step back to the 19th Century Sweat Shops and tyranny by Managers. Sincerely,