Comment Number: OL-10506395
Received: 3/11/2005 2:40:36 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:

I am expressing my concerns about changes to work rules in the DOD. The proposed regulations, known as the National Security Personnel System (NSPS) wee printed in the Federal Register on February 14, 2005. This messge will be sent to DOD and my representatives in Congress. I served 20 years in the military and am currently working for DOD. I am angry that these proposals seem to treat the employees who help defend our country as the enemy. Most DOD emplyees work hard and are committed. I believe that mistreating the employees will hurt the agency's mission. I am very upset by NSPS. The system changes the way workers are paid, evaluated, promoted, fired, scheduled and treated. These rules will create a system where federal managers are influenced by favoritism rather than serving the civil concerns ot the American people. Under the current system, General Schedule, employee pay is clear. It is funded by Congress and can not be taken away. However, NSPS will take away this certainty. Salaries and bonsus are funded by DOD. In the past, as recently as just last year, DOD did not fund its awards program. Given the agency's miserable record on this issue, employees can not feel confident that their salaries and bonsus will be funded in the future. With the new patronage pay system, DOD calls pay for performance, the amount of a worker's salary will depend almost completely on the personal judgment of his or her manager. The system will force workers to compete with one another for pay raises, destroying team work, increasing conflice among employees, and rewarding short-term outcomes. There is no guarantee that even the best workers will receive a pay raise or that the pay offered will be fair or competitive. The system will create a situation in which workers are in conflice with one another and afraid to speak out about harassment, violations of the law, and workplace safety problems. Furthermore, there will be no impartial appeal system to assure that everyone is treated fairly. NSPS will allow managers to schedule employees to work without sufficient advance notice of schedule changes. This will make it extremely difficult for working parents to care for their children and family. It will also meanthat abusive managers can harass employees with bad schedules or short notice. Overtime rotations can be cancelled, which means that employees may not be able to plan adequately for childcare and other important responsibilities. Federal employees can be assigned anywhere in the world, even into a war zone, with little or no notice. I am proud to have served and still serve my country, but I am also responsible for caring for my family and my personal obligations at home. Today's volunteer system works well. America is at war. We are fighting for democracy abroad. But the regulations are an attack on workers' basic rights. Furthermore, NSPS will divert the attention of defense workers from the soldiers' welfare to protecting themselves from abuse on the job. I urge you to force DOD to rethink this proposal. We need rules that preserve fairness, serve the American people, and respect the rights of Defense Department workers.