| Comment Number: | OL-10501476 |
| Received: | 2/25/2005 11:26:00 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:
Pay: It is an error of this change to eliminate step increases. One of the few benefits afforded the civil service worker is the knowledge that even if he doesn't get along with his boss, and there may be no bonuses, at least the step increase will be there. What is going to happen to this system is single pay life cycles. Once this system takes effect, whatever your pay is when it happens, that is all you are ever going to get. The zero sum nature of this experiment combined with the ever shrinking pool of money means no pay raises other than cost of living. Additionally, as civil service places military members in command positions, trained or not, for a short duration, the civil servant could tolerate the commanders ineptitude or personal behavior with the knowledge that he would both outlast the commander and get step increases. Now that is gone. It was a comfort to the worker that these part time bosses could cause work issues, but could not touch the pay. Now, the worker has no recourse to deal with situations in the past they would have simply existed through. The military commander should never be able to effect the pay of the civil servant other than to have a say in the hire/fire decision. They should be hands off in the daily pay issues. It is widely regarded, at least in the Eglin AFB georaphic area, that contractors make more money but at a higher risk to their job security and the civil servant makes less money but has more security. This new system does away with that security and will severly impact the civil service system as workers realize they can go elsewhere for more money as the security is now the same.