| Comment Number: | EM-019858 |
| Received: | 3/15/2005 12:37:02 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 15, 2005 DoD NSPS Comments , DoD NSPS Comments: I would be remiss if I didn't take an opportunity to comment on the proposed regulations, known as the National Security Personnel System (NSPS), which were printed in the Federal Register on February 14, 2005. This message will be sent to both DoD and my representatives in Congress. In my opinion, approval of the proposed regulations will set Civil Serice back approximately 150 years. The system has evolved to eliminate "the good old boy system" but for some reason a movement is afoot to return to that system. The current system is probably just fine, if management would just start doing their job. Most DoD employees work hard and are committed to doing a very good job. I believe NSPS is the wrong way to go. 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. Management has more than enough tools to deal with troublesome employees if they would just do there job. 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. Here, at Ft Richardson, for example, our management doesn't even know who we are, much less what we do. Under the proposed system, the person who spends most of his/her day with the supervisors will get pay raises, etc, Those in the field working will have their jobs contracted out. 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 defeat the DoD proposal and to require DoD to work within the existing regulations. We need work rules that preserve fairness, serve the American people, and respect the rights of Defense Department workers. Sincerely,