| Comment Number: | OL-10506748 |
| Received: | 3/12/2005 8:01:51 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:
Docket number NSPS-2005-001 Regulatory Information Number (RIN) 3206-AK76 Please consider the following comments and delay final implementation until the proper steps have been taken to effectively involve the elected representatives of Defense Department workers. Page 7552 The Case for Action This section asserts that the NSPS is a new way to manage the civilian workforce and that NSPS is essential to create an environment in which the total force, uniformed personnel and civilians, thinks and operates as one cohesive unit. Civilian and uniformed personnel cannot be considered as one cohesive unit. Civilians generally have the function of moving weapons systems from the drawing board to the field, whereas, the uniformed personnel are combatants who use the systems. Civilians generally do not go into combat with the uniformed personnel. Civilians for the most part do not even have communication with the operating forces during hostilities. The idea of a cohesive team of military and civilian personnel is absurd. Subpart B Classification - Section 9901.201 to 99901.231 NSPS will replace the current government job classifications by grouping them into a few occupational categories with pay being set in "bands" with the new categories. Individual employees will be unable to appeal these newly-classified positions or the broad range of duties under the revised categories to a neutral arbitrator. Subpart C Pay, Sections 9901.301 to 9901.373 Defense Department employees should continue to receive the same annual pay and across-the-board adjustment that other GS/FWS workers receive. The individual pay increases for performance in the regulations should include guaranteed percentages so employees will understand the pay system and what their pay increase will be depending on their performance. Section 9901.333 Setting and adjusting local market supplements DOD should not be setting and adjusting local market supplements. The present arrangements for locality pay should remain in effect for DOD employees. Subpart D Performance Management - 9901.401 to 9901.409 To ensure fairness and accuracy, Defense Department employees should be able to appeal any performance rating to an independent grievance and arbitration process as they can do now. Section 9901.406 Setting and communicating performance expectations, paragraph ( c ) Performance expectations for supervisors should be expanded to include the continual leadership and encouragement of employees in accomplishing the mission. Otherwise the practical effect of this paragraph would be to allow the supervisor to fulfill his responsibility by meeting with the employee for the midterm review and for the final performance rating. This would be derelict management. The role of the supervisor is much more than monitoring performance and meting out rewards and punishments. Section 9901.408 Developing performance and addressing poor performance Poor performance should be defined. Furthermore, a supervisor’s judgements of poor performance by the employee should not be driven by the usual “back-stabbing” behavior that frequently occurs in the office environment. Section 9901.409 Rating and rewarding performance The relationship between performance expectations and contributions should be established. There should also be a definition of the level of performance that merits a raise in pay. That definition should not be peculiar to any particular work activity. The following situation is very common: Two people are in project team. Person A does a very difficult analysis of a problem for person B. Person B likes the work, meets with the program sponsor, and receives praise for his presentation of the work. The sponsor is happy with the result. Person B doesn’t tell Person A how the meeting went. Person B’s supervisor thinks that person B made a significant contribution and recommends a pay raise. Person A’s supervisor thinks that person A just did his job and doesn’t recommend a pay raise for him although Person A made person B “look good” at the sponsor’s meeting. In reality, the analysis was just as deserving of a pay raise as the presentation before the sponsor. The level of performance for a pay raise should be such that any employee, no matter what his or her function, can achieve that level of performance once that employee understands what level of effort his required of him or her. Subpart E Staffing and Employment - 9901.501 to 9901.516 The proposed regulations would replace longstanding provisions on hiring found in 5 U.S.C. Chapters 31 and 33 with unpublished procedures that will be prescribed at some future date through implementing issuances. Using this approach will allow the Defense Department to arbitrarily develop and administer new rules on staffing and employment that have not been available for public comment. This is especially troubling given the proposal to engage in non-citizen hiring to positions within NSPS. Our national security would surely be put at risk if Defense Department managers were able to exercise such hiring flexibilities. Subpart F Workforce Shaping - 9901.6012 to 9901.611 The Defense Department should not change the current layoff/RIF rules, which give balanced credit to performance and the employees' valuable years of committed service. Moreover, under he proposed regulations employment disputes over such matters would be unfairly limited to the Merit Systems Protection Board. Subpart G Adverse Actions - 9901.701 to 9901.810 The NSPS guiding principle on enhanced management flexibility would be undermined if the provision on mandatory removable offenses is retained. Due process and fairness demand that the independent body reviewing major suspensions and terminations be allowed to alter the proposed penalty if it deems deem the penalty to be unreasonable. The current standards approved by the courts to guide such bodies should be continued. Subpart H Appeals - Section 9901.801 to 9901.810 Over 25 years worth of case law will be discarded, where those precedents conflict with NSPS. This will eliminate the use of the Douglas factors, which third parties used to mitigate or overturn agency-imposed penalties. Subpart I Labor-Management Relations - 9901.901 to 9901.929 The labor-management law that has governed the employees' right to organize and engage in collective bargaining has worked well since 1978. There is no compelling reason to take away most of the collective bargaining rights or grievance rights. The Defense Department should not create a "company-dominated dispute board." Any dispute board must be jointly selected by management and the union. Section 9901.905 Impact on existing agreements Collective bargaining agreements (contracts) between Government and the union are legal documents. As such they must be obeyed by both parties and modified or superseded only by the mutual consent of both parties. Collective bargaining agreements should remain enforceable.