| Comment Number: | EM-023228 |
| Received: | 3/16/2005 5:09:36 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: NATIONAL COUNCIL OF EEOC LOCALS NO. 216 AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES AFL - CIO Dear I write to express my concerns about changes to work rules in the Department of Defense (DoD). The proposed regulations, known as the National Security Personnel System (NSPS), were printed in the Federal Register on February 14, 2005. This message will be sent to both DoD and my representatives in Congress. I write on behalf of both employees of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission not yet subject to such abusive rules and on behalf of the DoD employees. Finally, I write because I am concerned that these abusive types of flexibilities will spread to and contaminate all federal agencies. In addition, I am angry that these proposals seem to treat the employees who help defend our country as the enemy. Most federal and DoD employees work hard and are committed. I believe that mistreating the DoD 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. There are a number of problems with the system and I note the following: 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? Moreover, the DoD pay system that DoD has proposed will likely mean smaller pay increases in the future for most employees than under the current pay system. If your salary is lower in the future under NSPS than under the current pay system, your future retirement benefit will be less as a result. ?Friend of the Supervisor? Pay System The current system is a mission driven, performance based merit system that can motivate, recognize and reward excellence. Performance recognition has suffered from the fact that DoD has tight budgets and never adequately funded performance recognition. But for NSPS DoD has emphatically stated no additional funding will be allowed. 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 The Merit System Protection Board recently highlighted a report by the Corporate Leadership Council which concluded that even successful pay for performance programs had little impact on organizational performance (i.e., mission). The report indicated that successful employee engagement did improve organizational performance. Yet DoD has proposed to eliminate most collective bargaining, the core of employee engagement. Schedules and Overtime In the past, DoD representatives worked with Union representatives to reach mutually agreeable terms for scheduling employees for both regular and overtime work. Now 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 In the past, management and union officials negotiated terms that allowed DoD employees to be deployed. Typically, the terms allowed for volunteers to be assigned first and a protocol to be followed to assign others in order to meet the need. Under the new system, 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. To allow management to abuse its authority and to ignore the requests of ready, willing and able employees, defies all reason and logic. 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. Veteran?s Preferences NSPS does not eliminate veterans? preference in hiring. In RIF?s however, a manager can ?gerrymander? the RIF to the point as to place all the veterans in a single area of competition, so they are the only one subject to losing their jobs! In RIF?s, the ?bump and retreat rights? have been curtailed for all employees thus watering down veterans and non veterans protections as provided in the current Civil Service system. If you have the right, but your options to use your veteran preference have been substantially eliminated, than your veteran preference is substantially eliminated This is a slap in the face of veterans, especially now, when America is at war and many federal agencies have any number of employees who have been called to serve and who are returning to a hostile job market. Pay Issues While the proposed DoD system will not reduce wages, per say, the impact on future earnings cannot be overlooked. The system has the potential to lock hard working employees into a pay rate, despite the level of effort, commitment and excellence of a given employee. Given DoD?s failure to fund awards and other programs, employees are subject to the whims of managers about whom employees have complained for years The only thing that is changing here is that mangers now have unfettered discretion to abuse their authority. Labor Management Relations Currently, there is a system in place to ensure that the employees have a voice. Under the new system, managers are being given the ability to say, "talk to the hand?, as management no longer has an obligation to bargain. Under this system, instead of encouraging employees to perform at their best and to bring ideas and problems to management?s attention, this system ensures that there will be a lack of bargaining. Many good ideas and opportunities to improve the work and its processes will be lost. Grievances and appeals Under this new system, the grievance and appeal right is list. It is not all right to have management be the judge, jury and hangman. Given the number of appeals sustained in favor the grievant, a system that takes away that process merely encourages bad managers to continue to act unfairly, unethically and to serve only personal interests, rather than serving the mission of DoD. Due process At a time when our nation is at war to ensure that due process and democracy are available to ordinary citizens of another country, it certainly is strange that its own reforms limit the process due, to such a sever extent as to be non-existent. What is the purpose of allowing employees to challenge adverse actions if all the finder of fact can do is acknowledge that the agency violated the rules. Given the propensity of management to retaliate against employees who are able to prove that management acted improperly, any system of due process must include the ability to relieve the employee of the improper and illegal activities of management when taking disciplinary action. In closing, I ask that this regulation be withdrawn and replaced with a fair regulation that acknowledges the hard work, dedication and years of service from committed employees. Fair pay and benefits are a part why employees choose to work for America. Due process is necessary to ensure fairness. To remove these facets is akin to saying that we shall not have democracy, we shall not have the right to bring acts of injustice to the attention of anyone and we shall toil in the salt mines for the privilege of being abused. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Gabrielle Martin Sincerely,