| Comment Number: | OL-10506793 |
| Received: | 3/13/2005 8:51:13 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:
The performance based system will be a welcome change to the current system, however, I believe unilateral standardization should be accomplished when defining both disciplinary offenses and pay-rate increase objectives. As a federal firefighter, I am concerned that the local authority having jurisdiction might not be fully capable in each case to provide fair and equitable definitions of work performance objectives. In other words, ALL DOD firefighters should have the same set of career objectives and goals, as well as awareness of diciplinary actions. In this spirit, I believe the same ideology should apply to all areas of DOD civilian employment. A secretary in California should have the same performance expectations as one in New York. Uniformity of definition will alleviate the potential for unreasonable management expectations. A specific issue for DOD firefighters that merits concern is the proposed pay-banding system. While this might seem effective for many areas of DOD civilian employment, I believe it would be counter-productive within the DOD firefighting establishment. Firefighters, like policemen and soldiers, need to have a clear chain of command and definition of rank and responsibility. I believe the current GS system should stay in place for firefighters, though a modified form of the performance based system should apply as well.