| Comment Number: | OL-10505816 |
| Received: | 3/11/2005 8:38:14 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 apologize if these comments appear more than once...I submitted them earlier this month but can't find them in the posted comments section. The new NSPS regulations must include rules regarding workplace bullying. Current regulations provide no recourse for victims of this type of abuse—I know this first-hand. I was the victim of a workplace bully in a previous Army assignment. All of my appeals for help went unanswered because my bully was not breaking any rules. The new NSPS, with its heavy emphasis on performance-based pay, reduced employee appeals process, and greater latitude for supervisors to punish employees, must have rules and procedures in place to protect other DoD civilians from suffering experiences similar to mine. Workplace Bullying—What It Is The Workplace Bullying & Trauma Institute (WBTI) provides this definition of workplace bullying: Workplace Bullying or Psychological Violence At Work • is the repeated, health-endangering mistreatment of a person (the Target) by a cruel perpetrator (the bully). • is best understood through the bully's behaviors--acts of commission (hostile verbal, nonverbal communication and interfering actions) and omission (the withholding of resources--time, information, training, support, equipment--that guarantee failure)--which are all driven by the bully's need to control the Target. • involves the bully alone at first deciding who is targeted, when, where and how psychological violence will be inflicted. Later, others may be coerced to participate in the assaults. • is not "tough" management; it is illegitimate behavior; it interferes with an employee's work production and the employer's business interest. • escalates from 1:1 harassment after bullying is reported and the employer responds inappropriately and inadequately to engulfing an entire work unit in chaos, pitting co-workers, management and management's allies against the Target. Workplace bullying affects approximately 1 in 6 adult workers. The DoD can expect that approximately 117,000 of its 700,000 civilian employees will fall victim to this type of abuse. Bullying victims tend to be experienced, educated, competent employees—the very type of employee the NSPS is designed to reward and retain. Bullies purposefully select their targets for abuse. According to WBTI, victims tend to be women (80% of victims—most women are bullied by other women, thus precluding victims from filing complaints based on current harassment laws). WBTI states that victims tend to be of the following types of people: 1) ethical, just, and fair; 2) independent, skilled, and bright; and 3) cooperative. WBTI has identified numerous tactics that bullies use on their targeted victims. A bully may: • Use put-downs, insults, and belittling comments • Accuse the target of wrongdoing, blaming him or her for errors made up by the bully • Make unreasonable demands for work with impossible deadlines, apply disproportionate pressure, expect perfectionism • Ensure that the target does not have resources needed to do required work • Steal credit for work done by the target • Make up new rules on a whim that the target is expected to follow • Yell, scream, curse, throw tantrums • Crowd the target’s personal space, move close to threaten or to make the target anxious, hover over, sneak up from behind to startle • Apply different performance standards to targets • Encourage other employees to turn on the target Many other tactics can be used, depending on what tactics the bully finds most effective. In many cases, the abuse will be unseen by others in the organization. According to Gary and Ruth Namie, bullies frequently distort “the performance appraisal process behind closed doors attempting to reconstruct the target’s personality and competence.” Impact of Workplace Bullying Workplace bullying has severe consequences for the targeted victim, including health problems (which in turn lead to absenteeism issues) and personality changes. Many victims suffer from symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder stemming from the abuse. Joel Neuman, in his paper, “Injustice, stress, and bullying can be expensive!” states that the type of sustained stress caused by bullying can lead to reduced work performance, “…substance abuse…violations of politeness norms, and increased incidence of aggression.” Without rules against workplace bullying, victims have no avenue for recourse. Current harassment laws do not apply in most cases, since most of the time neither the bully nor the target falls into a protected minority category; both the bully and the victim are members of a protected minority; or only the bully is a protected minority but the victim is not. Without avenues for recourse, WBTI states that 37% of targets are fired or involuntarily terminated; 33% of targets quit; and 17% of targets transfer to another position with the same employer. On the other hand, only 4% of bullies stop bullying after being punished, and 9% of bullies are transferred or terminated. This situation further punishes the victim and leaves the bully free to continue his or her abusive behavior with the next target. Workplace Bullying and NSPS The NSPS, as outlined in the Federal Register, provides many opportunities for bullying and makes punishment and removal of victims a very real danger for thousands of DoD’s civilian workers. The first danger area is in setting performance expectations. Page 7562 of the Federal Register states, “Final determinations in setting expectations, however, are within the authority of the supervisor.” The Register goes on to state on p. 7565, “If an employee fails to perform at an acceptable level, management may use a variety of measures, including training, regular feedback, counseling and, at management’s discretion, an improvement period, to address and resolve performance deficiencies. If an employee is still unable or unwilling to perform as expected, it is reasonable for management to take an action against the employee.” As noted above, common bullying tactics include setting unreachable expectations and ensuring that employees don’t have the resources needed to meet expectations (whether they are unreachable or not). The NSPS regulations must provide a means for employees to appeal their performance expectations at the time they are set rather than waiting until the end of the performance appraisal period when the targets have failed to meet the unreasonable expectations. The second danger area is that performance appraisals will include an evaluation of behavior and attitude. Page 7562 states, “DoD has determined that conduct and behavior affecting performance outcomes (actions, attitude, manner of completion, and/or conduct or professional demeanor) should be traced and measured aspect [sic] of an employee’s performance. The NSPS regulations provide for consideration of employee behavior as a performance factor, element, or objective, such as ‘teamwork/cooperation.’” As noted above, personality changes, increased aggression, and violations of courtesy norms are typical results of being bullied. Providing a negative performance appraisal of the targeted victim’s undesirable behavior—rather than removing the cause of the behavior, which is the bullying—punishes the victim for suffering the usual and expected consequences of being victimized. The third danger area is giving supervisors wide latitude to set pay based on performance appraisals. As noted, bullying victims suffer from decreased performance, thereby providing the bully ample justification for reduced pay. Also previously noted, bullies often abuse the performance appraisal system to recharacterize the victim’s performance and ability. Again, this gives the bully ample opportunity to reduce the pay of targets and further victimize them. The same is true for other punishments that supervisors have at their disposal—reassignments, reductions in pay band, counseling, suspensions, etc. Conclusion To summarize the key points: Bullying victims tend to be ethical, educated, capable employees; Victims in most cases cannot file appeals under existing harassment laws (which are based on gender, age, sexual orientation, etc.); no regulations or laws against bullying currently exist; Most cases of bullying are resolved by the voluntary or involuntary loss of the employee; and The NSPS provides ample opportunity for bullying to take place and places victims in danger of being punished for simply being victims while allowing bullies to continue abusing other employees. The NSPS, as currently constructed, runs a very real risk of losing its best employees by allowing bullies to operate well within the system. NSPS may very well cause DoD to lose the talented employees that the system is designed to reward and promote. The NSPS must include specific rules against workplace bullying and strong measures to punish and remove bullies—and protect victims from being further punished themselves. Employees must be informed of their rights when it comes to bullying, and they must be told where to turn for help. WBTI has information on laws and regulations designed to stop (or at lease reduce) bullying in the workplace. WBTI also has information for Employee Assistance Program professionals on how to recognize bullying and help victims. All information used in this commentary was taken from WBTI’s web site, http://www.bullyinginstitute.org.