| Comment Number: | EM-022857 |
| Received: | 3/17/2005 1:56:18 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 17, 2005 DoD NSPS Comments , DoD NSPS Comments: I'm 11 years old, but I am very concerned about the changes that will affect my mom because she is a Department of Defense (DoD) civilian employee that will be affected by the proposed regulations, known as the National Security Personnel System (NSPS). I am angry and scared that these new rules will hurt employees like my mom. She works very hard and deserves to be paid a salary that won't decrease because of "mission requirements" and "avalability of funds" . NSPS treats the employees as the enemy. I am very upset by NSPS. My mom read parts of it to me and explained how the system will change the way workers are paid, evaluated, promoted, fired, scheduled, and treated. Employee pay should be clear and guaranteed that it can't be taken away. NSPS will take away pay and doesn't guarantee anything. No matter how hard employees work, they won't get raises because there won't be enough money under NSPS - just like last year ? DoD did have money for awards. Pay shouldn't depend on how well you get along with your boss either. Under the ?pay for performance,? system, 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. NSPS will also 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. This is the scariest part for me -Civilian Deployment Federal employees could be assigned anywhere in the world, even into a war zone, with little or no notice. Public employees are proud to serve our country, but they are also responsible for caring for their families and personal obligations. America is at war. We are fighting for democracy abroad. But these 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. I have never written to Congress before, but I am sending them a copy of this letter too. NSPS is a very bad thing and has to be stopped. The people who wrote NSPS should be ashamed of themselves, because they should know better than to treat people this way. DoD workers deserve stable jobs and dependable pay to take care of their families. And they shouldn't be deployed either. My dad is already deployed and I can't lose my mom too! Sincerely,