| Comment Number: | OL-10505676 |
| Received: | 3/11/2005 2:31:27 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:
Time In Grade/Substitution of Education. The way the current system is designed, federal government employees who are employed at an entry level position but have a college degree, that would qualify them for a higher position, are not qualified to apply because the system states that must have worked at least a year in the previous grade. For example, a GS-5 employee, with a master's degree is not eligible to apply for a GS-9 position because he/she has not worked for at least 52 weeks at the GS-7 level. However, a non-governmental employee with a master's degree can qualify directly for a GS-9 position with no prior government work experience. I am aware that if a vacancy is announced to all U.S. Citizens, then that GS employee can apply as such. It is my hope, that you will implement within the NSPS a provision that would allow current government employees the opportunity to compete for promotion against ALL government vacant positions by eliminating the TIME IN GRADE requirement. This provision will allow those college degree employees the opportunity to utilize the knowledge they obtained through their degree, rewarding them for their efforts in returning back to school to obtain higher learning, placing them in positions that would be more challenging and rewarding, and ultimately providing the government with more qualified employees.