| Comment Number: | OL-10508318 |
| Received: | 3/15/2005 2:21:01 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:
Workforce Shaping/Retention Lists Under Workforce Shaping-Subpart F, on page 7564, the proposed order of placing employees on a retention list is: (1) Tenure group (2) Veterans’ preference (3) Individual performance rating (4) Length of service First, Section 9901.607, page 7589, uses the term “rating of record” in lieu of the term “individual performance rating” found on page 7564. The problem here is that according to its definition (Section 9901.103, page 7576), the rating of record is based only on the most recent appraisal period. Typically this period is only one year. This tends to emphasize short term performance rather than long term performance. To the extent that performance is used as a factor for retention lists, it should include as a minimum the performance appraisals over the previous three years. Second, the proposed order of Section 9901.607 relegates creditable service to the least important factor. It seems that according to this section it would be possible for a high achiever with 30 years of creditable service, including service to the DoD during the Cold War, Viet Nam and Desert Storm, to be ranked below an employee with 18 months creditable service on an NSPS retention list. Moreover, there is a greater likelihood that older employees will suffer a disparate impact. Generally older employees have more creditable service than younger ones. The diminished importance of creditable service raises the possibility that a RIF could be used to target older employees. Generally, a larger investment in training has been made to develop the talent and skills of long term employees over the course of their Federal/Military careers compared to recent hires. The loss of the investment in training as well as the loss of specialized skills that can take years to develop is not being given due consideration. For the reasons just cited, the rules concerning establishment of retention lists appear to be inconsistent with one of the Guiding Principles of the NSPS: “Value talent, performance, leadership, and commitment to public service”, page 7555.