| Comment Number: | EM-023227 |
| Received: | 3/15/2005 8:44:56 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 15, 2005 DoD NSPS Comments , DoD NSPS Comments: IAs a Government employee abuse is already undermining key employee?s protections that prevent Government employees to protect themselves. 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. 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. 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. Unfair labor practices already exist 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. Sexual harassment could take place. Overtime rotations can be canceled, which means that employees may not be able to plan adequately for childcare and other important responsibilities. With the NSPS the rights and dreams of our children are destroyed. How can you expect to get loyal employees with any agency with this type of action taken place? We have a lot of disgruntle employees and we in these agencies don?t need this type of environment. Is this nation so rich that if can afford to lose good workers? What will there be to attract any one person to come and work for an Agency that allows management to treat its employees cruel. 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 responsible for caring for my family and my personal obligations at home. We signed up for a civilian job. I did not enlist in the military. Today?s volunteer system works well. Does this mean that if I don?t wasn?t to serve as the military that I don?t have that the right to say no? I don?t want to wake up one morning and just the way the Supervisor is feeling tell me that I have to travel over 80 miles to another location, placing a burden on me. The deception seems to be a part of policies and procedures. I deserve better as a voter and a tax payer. America is at war. We are fighting for democracy abroad in too many places and our home front is not being protected the way it should. The NSPS 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. Everybody does not get treated fair and equally. With the NSPS this is a way of firing you without a normal due process of law and our equal right and the first amendment, not to mention the 10th and 14th . How and what will I be able to do if I am not going to be evaluated properly or protected by the law. This NSPS will not allow me the right to an appeal. It does not take a rocket scientist to know the plans top get rid of the working force. Some of the working force will be able to retire and this is a way to keep from paying retirement to the older working force that has been working for this retirement. Retirement is a benefit that you work for not to be told that you are being RIF without retention rights. Something is very wrong with this. Congress is not thinking about the fellow Americans that vote for them to be in office. Most employees are retiring because of the system and the way that unequal treatment, bias, and racism exist before NSPS. NSPS takes place a lot of rights will be taken away, so retire before NSPS is in place. DCMA Santa Ana is the most racist Agency that I have ever worked for especially when it comes to downsizing and grade promotions. Across the board other Agencies have higher grades and DCMA Santa Ana has the lowest. The Work loads are the same. What?s wrong with the management is that egos get in all of the ways. As a constituent I really need your help. Employees save in a Thrift Savings Plan so that we will have enough to make ends meet when we do retire. Everyone does not save in the Thrift Savings Plan because it is hard when we live from pay check to pay check. We are not forced to pay into our ?Thrift Savings Plan? which is a retirement plan. We choose to not because it is a requirement, we choose to make a sacrifice which in some cases we a struggle to save to have some income when we retire from these jobs. If congress would take a good serious look at DCMA, you could see where we do not get equal treatment. A lot goes on and never told DCMA has a lot of grievances that don?t surface because of the retaliation and being placed on a list that keeps employees from getting promotions. Was suppose to be job security but when you look now it is beginning to be one of the worse places to work. It is the work force that helps keep the economy working. After the Department of Homeland Security?s (DHS) final rules overhauling its personnel system, how employees are paid, disciplined and represented by unions the rules are to use this type of system throughout all Government agencies, if Secretary Rumsfeld or the President have their way about it. Employees of DHS have very serious concerns about the direction in which DHS is headed regarding personnel changes. The (CBP) Customs and Border Protection and (NTEU) have conducted a survey 300 of DHS employees and found out the morale has dropped very low and 90 percent of employees have identified better agency management as the top measures that lack processes for developing and managing risks and providing sound information to decision makers. Subpart C Pay, Sections 9901.301 to 9901.373 The employees in DOD should continue to receive the same annual pay across-the-board adjustment that other GS/FWS workers receive. The individual pay increases for performance should include guaranteed percentages in the regulations so that employees will understand the pay system and depending what their pay increase will be on their performance. Subpart D Performance Management - 9901.401 to 9901.409 In order to insure fairness and accuracy, DOD employees should be able to appeal any performance rating to an independent grievance and arbitration process like the one they can do now. Subpart F Workforce Shaping - 9901.6012 to 9901.611 DOD should not change the current layoff/RIF rules which give balanced credit to performance and the employee?s valuable years of committed service to DOD. Subpart G Adverse Actions - 9901.701 to 9901.810 Due process and fairness demand that the independent body reviewing a major suspension as termination be allowed to alter the proposed penalty if they deem it to be unreasonable. The current standards approved by the courts to guide such bodies should continue to be used. Subpart I Labor-Management Relations - 9901.901 to 9901.929 The labor management law that has governed the employees? right to organize and engage in collective bargaining has worked well since 1978. There is no compelling reason to take away most of the collective bargaining rights or grievance rights. The Department of Defense is Changing Work Rules that are unfair to its employees. DOD should not create a ?company dominated dispute board.? Any dispute board must be ?jointly selected? by management and the Union. Federal employees who are subjected to an adverse or performance-based action, as well as to certain other actions, have a variety of appeal and grievance rights. OPM review decisions of the Merit Systems Protection Board and arbitrators to exercise their authority under Chapter 77 of Title 5 to intervene or seek reconsideration of erroneous third party decisions. OPM also provide guidance to Federal agencies and employees on available appeal and grievance rights. Sincerely,