| Comment Number: | EM-022858 |
| Received: | 3/16/2005 7:36:38 PM |
| 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 , as an American and taxpayer of this Great Country due truly believe that the following is true and does not express the views of any of the People or Business that I have had the great privilege to be with. President Bush, Secretary of State Rumsfield, Congressman Hefly, and the entire Leadership of DoD/HLS (as I am told) have furiously and fraudulently snowed the Taxpayer?s of this Great Country, once more. Just so DoD could waste the taxpayer?s money and abuse their authority/discretion. I also believe that DoD has already violated PL: 990. In subpart ?A? of PL: 990, DoD states their intent is to train Civil Servants and their Representatives on the intent and process of the new NSPS. Clearly DoD only intended to do this after this short response time. There-by denying the current work forces a clearer understanding of PL: 990, and there-by denying the work force with the opportunity to respond with any intelligence. DoD new, given enough time the current work force would not give Non-frivolous defenses to the Taxpayers of this country why this Law and NSPS would be Illegal, Unconstitutional, and denies the Civil Servants with Justice when it comes to changes to the current Personnel system. Especially since, the DoD, already, had the authority to act during a time of War and for Security reasons, without taking away the current rights of the DoD employees. Who are also taxpayer?s, as well and have served their County with pride and without concerns for their personal needs during past wars, as proven by the past wars getting the mission done without any problems. There was no need to change the current due processes and Justice system. There are some reasons to change certain portions of the current Personnel Process, we have all recognized a serious need to change the hiring practices of the Federal Government, to mention just one of the many things that would bring the Federal Government into the 21st Century. However, these things could have been done with the support of the Civil Servant, the People and their Representatives and without this egregious, negative, and unconstitutional Law. When Congress had this proposed law shoved down their gullets on a Friday afternoon for truly frivolous reasons. They too recognized the need for a change within the Federal Government with regards to a need for a more modern Personnel System and not the need for PL-990, which supports a new NSPS. To my knowledge, none of the above named Leadership provided any un-refutable or justifiable proof of any kind that would justify, such a large, ?negative,? impact to the DoD work force. "Due Process" has been mentioned through out Public Law 5 USC 990. Which is supposed to provide comfort for the current DoD workforce. This couldn?t be any farther from the Truth! I ask, how can there be due process without any form of checks and balances, from an out side-disconcerting source, to insure the trustfulness and the Justice of this process? I do not care how much Due Process the DOD Agencies says the work force will have. All of the Due Process in the world is worth, ?Absolutely nothing,? when DoD has intentionally taken away so many protections (such as Bargaining rights and Arbitration to mention just a few), that insure due process is provided to the Civil Servants supported by a sense of Justice. The Law itself, as written shows that DoD does not want the Civil Servants under their Authority to have justice under Civilian Law. DoD wants to supervise their civilian workforce under a Military sense of Justice. DoD supports my theory when they took away so many things when they wrote PL: 990 that provided the employees with this sense of Justice, such things as: enforcement rights of the MSPB and EEOC Judges. If you can?t trust a Civil Servant ALJ, whom can you trust? DoD also took away their employees right to be Represented by their Union on all conditions of employment. Just to mention one of the many things that DoD & HLS & OPM has taken away from the Civil Servant people whom support the missions for each of their respective Agency?s. DoD has taken away any of the confidence that the employees might have had in their due process procedures they had before. DoD has provided no supporting proof that their Justice under PL: 990 will be fair, none bios, impartial, and that the Due Processes provided through the current DoD PL: 990 is ?NOT? intended to be: age discriminatory, but through Military Justice, it will be. ?Not? intended to be retaliatory; but for Union involvement, but through Military Justice it has been. ?Was? intended to be progressive in nature in regards to Disciplinary and Performance based actions, but through Military Justice it will not be. What proof (if any) doses DoD have that this change to the current Personnel procedures is truly needed to support the mission of DoD?DoD has sought to take out any means of insuring a legitimate, none bayous Justice system. One that provides for checks and balances as provided by Congress and the Taxpayers before. I agree with some sort of multi-skilling, provided the workers safety is insured when having a lower level apprentice assisting and or doing the journeymen level work. 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 guarantees that 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. 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. Sincerely,