Comment Number: OL-10504917
Received: 3/10/2005 1:02:05 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:

Reference: Subpart C--Pay and Pay Administration. § 9901.342 Performance payouts. (d) Performance payout. (3) DoD may provide for the establishment of control points within a band that limit increases in the rate of basic pay. DoD may require that certain criteria be met for increases above a control point. (4) A performance payout may be an increase in basic pay, a bonus, or a combination of the two. However, an increase in basic pay may not cause the employee’s rate of basic pay to exceed the maximum rate or applicable control point of the employee’s band rate range. Implementing issuances will provide guidance for determining the payout amount and the appropriate distribution between basic pay and bonus. Comment: The use of control points within the pay bands to restrict increases in basic pay is age discriminatory. People who have many years of service will come into the new system at the very top of the pay band, at or above the DoD established control point. The example given on page 7560 states that an example of such a control point is a requirement for the employee to have achieved the highest performance rating in order to receive an increase in basic pay. If an employee is at or above a control point and they do not receive the highest performance rating, then all of their performance pay would be in the form of a bonus. Since bonuses do not affect basic pay, the employee would stay at the exact same spot on the pay band. If they got the same performance rating every year, they would get the exact same pay every year. The only increases would be for locality pay. It does not seem fair that an employee must achieve the highest performance rating in order to get a full cost of living adjustment. Only basic pay is considered for calculating retirement and life insurance benefits. Therefore, employees with many years of experience who come into the pay band at the very top will have to get the highest performance ratings every year just to get the same pay increase and retirement benefits they would have got under the old GS system with just a satisfactory performance rating. I am currently a GS-12 Step 8 Industrial Engineer with 15 years service and I am 46 years old. I am within 5 years of reaching the top of my career ladder, and unless I find a new job as a supervisor, I can only get two more step increases and then only cost of living increases for the rest of my career. Under NSPS, no information has been provided on what the pay bands will look like. However, I envision that I will be very near the very top of my pay band when this system comes into being. If DoD sets the control points for basic pay below what I am currently making, then I will not be able to get an increase in basic pay, other than adjustments for local market supplements or by getting the highest performance rating. Not getting an increase in basic pay means that my retirement will also be adversely affected. It also means that if I get highly satisfactory performance ratings every year, I would get the same pay every year, since my basic pay would not increase because of the control points, and my performance pay would be all bonus pay. Therefore, I will have to get outstanding performance ratings every year for the next eight years in order to make the same amount of money, retirement, and life insurance benefits that I would have made under the GS system with just satisfactory performance ratings. I understand that the old system is longevity based and the new system is performance based. However, I signed on to the old system 15 years ago with the knowledge that I would be making less money than in private industry, in exchange for job security. This new system has no job security and, it doesn't even provide me with the opportunity to make as much money as the old GS system. Recommendation: If NSPS is suppose to be performance based, then the control points should be eliminated. Not everyone is going to get the highest performance rating. However, by eliminating the control points, the employee with a highly satisfactory performance rating would get a larger increase in basic pay than someone with just a satisfactory performance rating and increase their retirement benefits. With control points, they would both be stuck at the same spot. Eliminating control points would allow experienced workers at the top of the career ladder a small incentive to continue working hard for the Federal Government.