| Comment Number: | OL-10502866 |
| Received: | 3/3/2005 9:32:43 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:
The proposed regulations, known as the National Security Personnel System (NSPS), were printed in the Federal Register on February 14, 2005 and I am providing my concerns with changes to work rules this will cause in the Department of Defense (DoD). I will be sending this message to DoD and my representatives in Congress. I have been working for the Navy for 28 years and I am upset that the proposed NSPS seems to treat the employees who help defend our country like second-class citizens or the enemy. This system will change for the worse the way workers are paid, evaluated, promoted, fired, scheduled, and treated. I believe that this will kill morale and thus hurt the agency’s mission. The system will not allow good supervisors that have surrounded themselves with self-motivated and enthusiastic employees to be able to recognize them all. These rules would create a system in which federal managers are influenced by favoritism. The vast majority of DoD employees are committed and work hard and do not deserve to be mistreated. Under the General Schedule an employees annual pay raise is clear. The raise is voted on and funded by Congress. NSPS will take away this certainty and DoD will fund salaries and bonuses. Last year DoD did not fund its awards program and given the agency’s record on this issue, employees cannot feel confident that future salaries and bonuses will be funded. DoD may find something they find more important to fund and then the employee had no representation like they do with Congress. With the pay for performance pay system the amount of a worker's salary will depend 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. The best workers will not be guaranteed 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. There will be no impartial appeal system to assure that everyone is treated fairly. There will be no motivation or desire for good employees to come and work for the government. 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 members in violation of the Family Friendly Leave Act. Abusive managers will be able to harass employees using bad schedules to burden the employee or short notice with schedule changes to set up employees for failure. Overtime rotations can be canceled, which means that employees may not be able to plan adequately for childcare, health issues and other important responsibilities. Federal employees could be assigned anywhere in the world, even into a war zone like Iraq, with little or no notice. I am proud to serve my country but I am also responsible for caring for my family and my personal obligations at home. I signed up for a civilian job. I consciously did not enlist in the military but choose to support the Navy. The military volunteer systems seems to be working well and “drafting” the civilian work force is not the answer to meet emergent needs. America is at war and is fighting for democracy abroad. These regulations are an attack on workers basic rights. I foresee NSPS diverting the attention of the defense worker from the soldier’s welfare to protecting themselves from abuse on the job and vying with supervisors for awards. I urge you to force DoD to rethink this proposal. I want work rules that preserve fairness, serve the American people, respect the rights of Defense Department workers and spend our tax dollars wisely.