| Comment Number: | EM-023478 |
| Received: | 3/16/2005 2:34:58 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. Most DoD employees work hard and are committed. I believe that mistreating the employees will hurt the agency?s mission. 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. In generally: I am very displeased with the passing of the NSPS by our congressman and senators and Secretary Rumsfield. What does my pay; promotion steps, veterans preference etc. have to do with national security? It is wrong to take our minimul annual pay raise away and let our supervisor decide our raise or if we even get one. With the advent of the NSPS and it rules and regulations that will change almost every thing for me as a bargaining member, the government makes me feel like I have done something wrong and now I'm being punished. It will be opened a huge door for abuse and very little protection for the workers. Truly, employees could loose pay, not based on their performance but by not agreeing with the supervisors point of view. There are no built in checks and balances and the "good old boy system will thrive again. We are going backwards instead of forward. I believe the proposed NSPS will undermine the Civil Service and hurt the mission of the DoD employees. Thank you for your time and your consideration. Sincerely,