| Comment Number: | OL-10501520 |
| Received: | 2/25/2005 3:15:14 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:
NSPS is unfair to loyal American defense workers. All employee rights and years of bargaining gains will be destroyed with the implementation of NSPS. HSPS is designed to steal from the Federal worker by enabling managers to demote good workers and promote their buddies. It will result in a culture of back-stabbing and cronyism in which the performance and contributions of the civilian workforce are ignored and the buddy system is promoted. Pay banding is legalized theft, rewarding life-long government workers with the promise of reduced pay as they age and are less capable of prolonged strenuous activities. Moving away from the General Schedule system will result in a loss of skilled, talented, and motivated people, and will encourage the existing workforce to leave federal employment. The proposed regulations for DOD personnel revoke most due process rights (rendering whistleblower protections moot), allow supervisors to punish employees in their paychecks, create a so-called “pay-for-performance” system that pits employees against each other for pay increases, and end all meaningful collective bargaining. In the case of a reduction in force (RIF), a one-year employee with an “outstanding” rating would be retained over a 20-year employee with an “excellent” rating. 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,” an impossible standard to overcome. For some alleged offenses, even the manager proposing the discipline would not be able to propose anything short of removal. These new work rules ultimately shortchange the American taxpayer because in the Pentagon and at military installations across the country, the fox will now have ultimate watch over the chicken coop. With managers, under the new system, having new ways to retaliate against employees who challenge management decisions, what will become of employees who blow the whistle on pork-loaded military contracts, or who speak on behalf of soldiers in need of equipment? Every day, we hear of more punitive measures taken against loyal American government employees. The new regulations allow management to implement transfers and shift changes with impunity. Recent reports cite a lack of accountability in the upper reaches of the Pentagon. These new rules would only intensify that problem.