Comment Number: OL-10502102
Received: 3/1/2005 1:49:53 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:

I write to express my concerns about changes to work rules in the Department of Defense (DoD). The proposed regulations, known as the National Security Personnel System (NSPS), were printed in the Federal Register on February 14, 2005. This message will be sent to both DoD and my representatives in Congress. I have worked for DoD for over 20 years. I am angry that these proposals seem to treat the employees who help defend our country as the enemy. Most DoD employees work hard and are committed. I believe that mistreating the employees will hurt the agency’s mission. I am very upset by NSPS. This system will change the way workers are paid, evaluated, promoted, fired, scheduled, and treated. These rules would create a system in which federal managers are influenced by favoritism rather than serving the civil concerns of the American people. 1. Annual Pay Raises Under the General Schedule and FWS, employee pay was clear. It was funded by Congress and could not be taken away. However, NSPS will take away this certainty. Salaries and bonuses are funded by DoD. In the past, as recently as just last year, DoD did not adequately fund its awards program. Given the agency’s miserable record on this issue, how can employees feel confident that our salaries and bonuses will be funded in the future. Will it become a choice between buying guns and bombs or paying employees? 2. Friend of the Supervisor’s Pay System With the new patronage pay system, which DoD calls “pay for performance”, the amount of a worker's salary will depend almost completely on the personal judgment of his or her manager. This system will force workers to compete with one another for pay raises, which will destroy teamwork, increase conflict among employees, and reward short-term outcomes. There is no guarantee that even the best workers will receive a pay raise or that the pay offered will be fair or competitive. This system will create a situation in which workers are in conflict with one another and afraid to speak out about harassment, violations of the law, and workplace safety problems. Furthermore, there will be no impartial appeal system to assure that everyone is treated fairly. The focus of the NSPS, seems to be based on the premise that all government personnel covered by this plan work for excellent, forward thinking, unbiased supervisors, an absolutely ridiculous premise. 3. (Lack of) Schedules and (Forced) Overtime NSPS will allow managers to schedule employees to work without sufficient advance notice of schedule changes. This will make it extremely difficult for working parents to care for their children and family. It will also mean that abusive managers could harass employees with bad schedules or short notice. Overtime rotations can be canceled, which means that employees may not be able to plan adequately for childcare and other important responsibilities. 4. Civilian Deployment Federal employees could be assigned anywhere in the world, even into a war zone, with little or no notice. Since when did we enlist in the military? We signed up for a civilian job. Would we also be forced to take anthrax and other unproven vaccinations? 5. Unions Why are unions being destroyed in NSPS? DoD is now a subsidiary of Walmart. This system attempts to destroy Civil Service, most specifically Title 5, and replace it with a Walmart system of hiring, firing and pay. “wake up and smell the coffee” This is not a overhaul- its destruction.