Comment Number: OL-10501979
Received: 2/28/2005 3:49:15 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:

My comments are general in nature and address all sections of the proposal. I have 30+ years of federal service and have experienced the type of adversity that most employees have never been exposed to or have been affected by whether they are in professional or non-professional job categories. I have been through two (2) RIFs due to organizational downsizing. During these episodes, I suffered stressful situations that came about because of my "lack" of seniority [at that time, about 13 or 14 years of service versus more senior employees ahead of me who affected my retention status]. The job abolishment also occurred as a result of not being in the "in group" which represented the longer tenure and close friendship of a core team. I cannot agree that seniority considerations are out of date. There will always be favoritism and cronyism, and these politics affect the reward system, even the newly proposed one. I thus do not agree that even though I am one of the hardest working GS-12s on my team and am rewarded through monetary awards, that I would continue to be rewarded in a new system where younger people are involved. I believe that the step system currently in place guarantees that increases can be expected DESPITE the political climate. This is really my only comfort and consolation right now, as I have been competing for a new manager's approval while working even harder to fight for the promotion that is rightfully mine. I have been a GS-12 for 15 years now! If the new system is implemented, I could see the younger workers rewarded bonuses even though they party all day long, and I have to carry higher graded duties regardless. I see the possibility for even greater favoritism working against me in the new system with even less recourse for a workable grievance system than we have now, which is non-existent at this facility where management controls the union. What guarantee is there that politics will play a lesser role in the new system?