| Comment Number: | OL-10500573 |
| Received: | 2/18/2005 7:45:28 AM |
| 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:
Civilian employees of the Department of Defense are warning that a newly proposed personnel system for DoD could devastate morale on military installations around the globe. In the military, morale is crucial to mission success and can make the difference between living and dying. The workplace environment and morale on military installations would be impacted adversely by NSPS because many civilian defense employees work along side military personnel, the uniformed military would also be impacted by a low morale work environment. In the case of a reduction in force, a one-year employee with an “outstanding” rating would be retained over a 20-year employee with an “excellent” rating, according to the American Federation of Government Employees. When disciplinary actions are appealed to either the Merit Systems Protection Board or an arbitrator, neither would be able to substitute a lesser penalty unless the penalty was “wholly unjustifiable” – a standard some consider impossible to overcome. Employee advocates also object to the system’s inclusion of mandatory removal offenses, which require termination of the alleged offender’s employment for the most serious offenses. The Transportation Security Administration, for example, considers theft and illegal drug use MROs. When an employer has the power to mess with people’s pay and work schedules arbitrarily, workforce morale will suffer. We’ve got to be absolutely sure we make every effort to support our troops. We must not undermine our efforts in these trying times by lowering the morale of those American who support our troops every day on the job.