| Comment Number: | OL-10505822 |
| Received: | 3/11/2005 8:42:02 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:
Sections Related: Employee, Supervisor Relations, Ethics, Illegal Actions, Rewards, Job Security. In reviewing the entire NSPS I have some major ethical concerns. Per the DAU courses required of the acquisition community, the defining difference between the public sector and the private sector is the profit motive. Upon entering government service, all military and civilian personnel swear an oath to support and defend the constitution of the United States. Government employees are required to act in the public interest and in the conduct of their jobs there are many restrictions that must be followed. In effect, the ends or the objectives of the job do not justifiy the means. To further develop my point, private employees do not have the same civic duty but in direct contrast their goal is to literally increase the wealth of their employers. Their end is the bottom line, where the public emloyees end is the public good. NSPS is fashioned after the public sector hiring, firing, and reward system but it leaves too much room for unethical behavior and the arbritrary actions by supervisiors. No degree of traing will fix the unethical supervisor and the employees will have little power to challenge or air what they may see as being systemically wrong. The employee is the lowest entity and may and will be coeirced to do things that may not be in the public good just to retain employment or his wage. The system needs a strong documentation component to assure this does not happen. All taskings and tasks to subordinates from supervisors must be in writing to assure an "audit trail" is maintained. If this is not done, an employee may be encouraged to do an illegal or task that is not in the public good, for he sole purpose of glorifying the supervisor. The current NSPS systems puts them in the position of complying, being fired, demoted, or not getting a raise. The onus will be on the employee and not the supervisor. Documentation should be mandatory to assure accountabilty. I am also concerned that the NSPS will be used as a mechansim for age discrimination. Namely, a more senior employee will never be found to be performing well and will be forced to retire or be fired. This type of system is ripe for this abuse. Reverse discrimination is a major concern with this system. If an organization is supervised by an entity of a minority race, they may use this to discrimiate against employees of other races. There is a track record of this indeed happening. Under NSPS this will increase since there are many other factors that can be employed to forces the proper mix of organizations under the guise of work performance etc. In the past, other inititatives have been instituted to improve job performance and motivate employees. If these were studied, you will see that none have worked. Much more can be written, however I belive the above outlines my concerns. In conculsion, I feel that the NSPS may be a good system, but without the proper checks and balances, does not fit with the the primary goal of government service, performing for the public good.