| Comment Number: | EM-023232 |
| Received: | 3/16/2005 11:36:08 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 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 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. 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 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. 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. I am proud to serve my country but I am also responsible for caring for my family and my personal obligations at home. We signed up for a civilian job. We did not enlist in the military. Today’s volunteer system works well. America is at war. We are fighting for democracy abroad. But the 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 beleive the porposed NSPS regulation will undermine the civil service and hurt the ability of DoD employees to accomplish th agency's mission. Plesas consider the following comments and delay final implementation until the proper steps have been taken to effectively involve the elected representatives of Defense Department workers. Subpart B Classification- Section 9901.201 to 99901.231 NSPS will replace the current government job classifications by grouping them into a few occupational categories with pay being set in "bands" with the new categories. Individual duties under the revised categories to a neutral artitrator. Subpart C Pay Sections 9901.301 to 9901.373 Defense Department employees and NAF employees should continue to receive the same annual pay and across-the-board adjustment that the GS/FWS workers receive. The individual pay increases for performance in the regulation should include guaranteed percentages so employees will understand the pay system and what their pay increase will be depending on their performance. Subpart D Performance Management-9901.4010 - 9901.409 To ensure fairness and accuracy, Defense Department employes and Nonappropriated Fund Employees should be able to appeal any performance ration to an independent grievance and arbitration process as they do now. Subpart E Staffing and Employment-9901.501 to 9901.516 The proposed regulation would replace longstanding provisions of hiring found in 5 U.S.C Chapter 31 and d33 with unpublished procedures that will be prescribed at some future date through implementing issuances. Using this approach will allow th Defense Department to arbitrarily develop and administer new rules on staffing and employment that have not been available for public comment. This is especially troubling given the proposal to engate in non-citizen hiring to position within NSPS. Our national securaity would surely be put at risk if Defense Department managers were able to exercise such hiring flexibilities. Subpart F Workforce Shaping- 9901.6012 to 9901.611 The Defense Department should not change the current layoff/RIF rules but however should change teh BBA under NAF. Nonappropriated Fund Employees should be put under the Layoff/RIF rules, which gives balanced credit to performance and the employees' valuable years of committed service. Moreover , under the proposed regulation employment disputes over such matters wuld be unfairly linited to the Merit Systems Protection Board. Subpart G Adverse Action -9901.701 to 9901.810 The NSPS guidiing principle on enhanced management flexibility wuld be undermined if the provision on mandatory removable offense is retained. Dure process and fairness demand that the independent body reviewing major suspensions and terminations be allowed to alter the proposed penalty if it deems the penaslty to be unreasonable. The current standards approved by the courts to guide such bodies should be continued. Subpart H Appeals- Section 9901.801 to 9901.810 Over 25 years worth of case law will be discarded, where those percedents conflict with NSPS. tHIS WILL ELIMINATE the use of the Douglas factors, which third parties used to mitigate or overturn agency-imposed penalities 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 Defense Department should not create a "COMPANY-DOMINATED dispute Board" Any dispute board must be jointly selected by management and the Union. Sincerely,