| Comment Number: | OL-10501628 |
| Received: | 2/27/2005 1:49:05 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:
Comments concerning - Federal Register: February 14, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 29) Proposed Rules: FR Document 05-2582/NSPS (National Security Personnel System) Page 7565: "However, it is important to preserve the Secretary's flexibility to carefully and narrowly determine the offenses that will fall into this category and to make changes over time." This power exists already under current statutes and regulations. SECDEF wants this to be authority without oversight. "This subpart retains an employee's right to representation and a written decision but provides shorter advance notice periods and reply periods than are currently required for appealable adverse actions. Employees are entitled to a minimum of 15 days advance notice and a minimum of 10 days to reply, which run concurrently. However, if there is a reasonable cause to believe the employee has committed a crime for which a sentence of imprisonment may be imposed, the Department will provide a minimum 5 days advance notice and opportunity to reply, which will run concurrently. These proposed changes facilitate timely resolution of adverse actions while preserving employee rights." Employees' rights are reduced from its current standing. Additionally, due process is proscribed. "The proposed regulations eliminate the requirement for a formal, set period for an employee to improve performance before management may take an adverse action." In previous sections, NSPS proposed regulations detail steps to promote communication between supervisors and employees. This shatters any illusion of communication and chills the relationship between manager and employee. "Appeals--Subpart H" Since there will be few, if any, local CBAs (Collective Bargaining Agreements), there will be no grievance process as such. One size does not fit all. For example, OSD (Office of the Secretary of Defence) is not the same as SIMA Pearl Harbor, or NSA Naples, or a lab facility. In only very limited, proscribed instances can an employee ask for MSPB protection. Furthermore, there will be no case law in deciding cases, as NSPS forces MSPB to forego decades of case law and use only what SECDEF decides to use. MSPB can be overriden by internal DoD review. None of this is subject to judicial or Congressional oversight. Only Congressional interference forced DoD/NSPS to continue using MSPB.