| Comment Number: | OL-10506028 |
| Received: | 3/11/2005 10:34:51 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:
Staffing and Employment & Workforce Shaping (Subpart E, 9901.501 to .516) (Subpart F, .6012 to .611) I agree the hiring process is slow and cumbersome but we do not need NSPS to figure out a solution to that problem. A year - long probationary period is more than enough time for anyone to endure. If a manager cannot figure out by then if they want to keep that individual or not, then the manager should be removed. This will go back to the days of hiring all the relatives. I disagree with the idea that if I get promoted to a different position that I will have to serve another probationary period. That does not give me much incentive to better myself. You are not providing any details of the changes so that I can make an intelligent comment. You also want to be able to hire non-citizens into DoD. I would think that the national security will be affected by that proposal. We could have new employees earning a higher salary than employees with 20 years. I did not come to work for the government in order to be deployed anywhere in the world, at a moment’s notice and for as long as you want to send me. Veteran’s preference is going to be retained but greatly reduced. If they can only compete within their competitive level, bump and retreat rights are basically gone. Competitive areas should remain as they are. If you narrow the areas that are to be affected, my rights to remain employed will be virtually eliminated. Performance ratings already affect my seniority. During a RIF, my ratings are added to my years of service. The appraisal system is already to subjective. My employment will be based solely on one person’s opinion of me. Seniority should always come before performance ratings. DoD wants to forget about all the years of dedicated service that I have performed. If I am unjustly separated during a RIF, I should be able to appeal to the MSPB. If I choose to relocate and PPP is not handled correctly, I should also be able to appeal that decision. Probationary periods should be the same for everyone, not set for each individual employee. Two of the biggest problems with the hiring process are: background security checks and the time it takes to obtain approvals by the chain of command. I have not read anywhere that these proposals will change anything to speed up the process. There will always be workload fluctuations. Our agency has been hiring a lot of term and temp employees which gives you the flexibilities needed for “rightsizing.” DoD does not seem to understand the differences between military and civilians. I did not hire in to be deployed. I, as a civilian, was hired to support the military. If you are going to remove the career-conditional status, there will be less opportunity for placement during RIFs. We will lose corporate knowledge as longer standing employees are separated.