| Comment Number: | OL-10503354 |
| Received: | 3/5/2005 8:41:01 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:
Under this subpart, DOD would have the authority to establish a new pay system completely outside the GS and WG systems. No specifics are given. Instead, the system will be announced in an “implementing issuance” not published in the Federal Register for public comment. DOD intends to establish “broad, occupational career groups” to replace positions and position descriptions. Accompanying this will be “pay bands” to replace pay grades and steps. The proposed regulations would provide for adjustments to pay bands to reflect local market conditions, which seems to contemplate cost-of-living increases though there is no indication as these adjustments will be determined or how often they will occur. Individual employee pay will be directly linked to performance ratings, so that two employees working next to each other on the same tasks could be paid the same wages, or different wages, from year to year. The proposed regulations would allow for other “goodies” like a “performance payout,” an “extraordinary pay increase” or an “organizational achievement recognition.” The proposed regulations indicate that when an employee is reduced in pay due to a reduction in force, the employee may get some sort of pay retention but no details are provided. For a system that pretends to be so sensitive to employee morale, this is a terrible oversight. Without having to follow the grade and pay retention statutes anymore, DOD should assure its employees that if they are reduced to a lower pay band without personal fault (e.g., reassignment to a lower paying position to accommodate a disability), they will not suffer a loss in pay. Another startling oversight is the lack of any specifics on premium pay. Like so many other fundamental aspects of the program, this is to be established in “implementing issuances” without publication in the Federal Register for public comment. What will happen to title 5 overtime? (Thank goodness Congress didn’t allow DOD to repeal the overtime provisions of title 29- the FLSA). What will happen to compensatory time, Sunday pay, night pay, hazardous duty pay and holiday pay? As things now stand, DOD can abolish all these types of pay.