| Comment Number: | OL-10501630 |
| Received: | 2/27/2005 1:50:57 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 7567: "MSPB will have the authority to review and adjudicate actions covered by this subpart as prescribed in 5 U.S.C. 9902. These regulations propose to modify certain case processing rules, legal standards, and precedents. Current title 5 provisions and MSPB regulations will govern the initial review and adjudication of adverse action appeals, unless inconsistent with the modifications identified in this section. The modifications being made to current MSPB requirements will further the mission of DoD without impairing fair treatment and due process protections. " DoD decides what is proper and legal and what is not. "Currently, the parties to an appeal may submit unilateral requests for additional time to pursue discovery or settlement. The ability of the parties to unilaterally submit a request for case suspension is eliminated." Time limits are decreased to avoid plaintiff discovery and make it easier for DoD to prevail. "All of these modifications will expedite and streamline the appeals process so that both employees and the Department will be able to resolve appeals more quickly and efficiently than is possible today." This is an unproven assertion. These modifications are there to make it more difficult for the employee to prevail in a dispute. "These regulations require the Department to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that an action taken against an employee promotes the efficiency of the service, but these regulations do not permit MSPB to reverse the action based on the way in which the charge is labeled or the misconduct is characterized. " This will create the climate for abuse of power. "Penalty Review" This section is a clear indicator of the direction NSPS wishes to take. Only SECDEF can mitigate, not the MSPB. If there is no independence of the MSPB, then there can be no jurisprudence. Since SECDEF will have no perspective of the case, he can not decide wisely. Fear of retribution from above and the resulting inbreeding of management is the only result and will create abuses of power that can only be imagined.