| Comment Number: | OL-10508188 |
| Received: | 3/14/2005 8:22:46 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:
Accountability: In the present GS system it is very easy to determine every employee's salary and to verify that payroll funds are expended appropriately. In the NSPS there is so much flexibility in determining minimum and maximum pay rates within bands, and even maximum pay rates for individual job series for local market supplements (the supplements can vary from job series to job series and from one locale to another). It will be nearly impossible for the individual employee to determine where he stands within the organization or to determine that his contribution to the pay pool was expended for the appropriate cause of rewarding himself and other employees in his/her pay pool. There should be an annual statement in an understandable format for the employees in each pay pool to demonstrate where all the payroll funds went and to relate those funds and end salaries to individual employees. The annual statement need not specify individuals by name, but should accurately track annual salaries, local market supplements, and pay for performance payouts. Included is the following quote from an article on GOVEXEC.com on October 14, 2004 to illustrate the need for an Annual Pay Pool Statement. "According to the Office of Personnel Management, 76 percent of TSA executives received a cash performance award. Of the almost 51,000 nonexecutive TSA employees, about 3 percent received an award or pay increase. TSA officials defended the awards, saying the bonus program followed all laws and regulations and covered a two-year work period. "Given the hours and productivity of the workforce during this critical period, TSA believes the award expenditures were fully justified," agency spokesman Mark Hatfield said in a news release. The agency, however, was unable to provide reliable or comprehensive data for awards given to employees in nonexecutive grades, the IG said. The data "suggests that a substantial inequity exists in [TSA's] performance recognition program between executive and nonexecutive employees," the IG wrote. " joe.newman@robins.af.mil