| Comment Number: | EM-022815 |
| Received: | 3/16/2005 10:49:51 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 16, 2005 DoD NSPS Comments , DoD NSPS Comments: I am appalled by the proposed changes to civil servant work rules in the Department of Defense (DoD). I have worked for DoD for years. I chose to work for DoD - for less money than I would have earned in the private sector - in part because of my interest in the relative fairness of the current civil service system. I am a veteran and after serving in the miiltary decided to return to civilian life. Many of the changes in the DoD rules treat me like a military member without any of the benefits the military enjoys! I will still have to work until I am 67 years old and have no commissary or PX or health care advantages but am expected to uproot my family every three years at a supervisor's whim just because I excelled and was promoted past GS-13. This is ridiculous! If this system were only foisted on new employees, it would be bad enough, but to force it on career civil servants who have already invested decades in the government is appalling!! There is already rampant favoritism and "old boy" arrangements in the government. This new system is ripe for abuse. If managers would use already existing tools to properly manage the work force, the so-called "abuses" by employees Rumsfeld and his minions complain about would never become systemic. After almost 20 years in DoD, I can say with certainty that it is more often the case that employees are abused by managers than the other way around! Not only is this new system designed to treat career civil servants like teenaged McDonalds employees, it also destroys an important keystone of democracy: a politically independent civil service. If managers can so easily retaliate against employees, they will produce a cowed civil service that will only give answers that the current administration wants when it is actually the duty of the civil service to look out for the long-term good of the country, not the short-term political interests of their current political appointee bosses!! From the gutting of appeals processes to pay raises based solely upon a supervisor's whim, to scheduling and RIFs and union representation, these regulations are appallingly bad. , which means that employees may not be able to plan adequately for childcare and other important responsibilities. PLEASE re-look this issue and stop this rash plan immediately. DoD employees need work rules that preserve fairness, serve the American people, and respect the rights of Defense Department workers. Sincerely,