| Comment Number: | OL-10508427 |
| Received: | 3/15/2005 8:30:37 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:
I am a firm believer in "if it it isn't broke don't fix it". I have weeded through all the comments and proposals by DoD's OPM and the only true problem I get from all this rhetoric is being able to hire personnel faster. We should concentrate on changing that issue alone. And, how does all of this pan out under the guise of National Security? How does doing away with employee's appeal rights help National Security? This is just someone's ignorant idea that was thrown into the middle of another real problem that was conveyed to Congress. Our current pay system may not be perfect for everyone but works fine for 95% of the workforce. If managers knew how to use the incentives that already exist it would up that percentage. Use bonuses, QSIs and continue the special rate pay scale for the other 5%. It's odd that NSPS wants to fix the the pay for the 5% but ruin it for the 95%! The current pay system isn't broke and is far better than the proposals. Employee rights and the appeals system has continuously improved over the past 40 years. Third party neutral arbitration is a necessity with a personnel system as large as DoD's. With the proposed appeals system of having an aggrieved employee present his case to a board of his managers-whom he most likely has the issue to begin with- is like being the victim of an accident but having to accept whatever the guilty party's insurance company feels like giving you with no recourse. With the mixed cultures of Civilians, Military, and Contractors, doing away with the current appeals system would turn DoD into third world sweat shops. It's ironic in that all of the good talent DoD is supposedly trying to keep will leave knowing thay can do better elsewhere without the hassles. The good ol' boy syndrome will definitely reign. The current employees rights and appeals sytem is definitely not broke. The only improvement I can suggest would be to speed it up. Now to deal with the one real issue. How can HRO be expected to screen and hire all the personnel we need when their employee numbers have been drastically reduced to downsizing? It took my office about a year to get another technician. HRO's response- "I have a huge stack of positions to fill before yours. I am here by myself. There used to be four of us." This is the real problem that we all see. If OPM put all of their efforts on this issue instead of the issues that aren't broke, I assure you it would've already been fixed. DoD: focus your efforts on this issue and fix it. As stated before DoD needs only to address the real problems instead of trying to ruin a decent system because of someone's ignorant whims. Fix the hiring issue and leave the rest of the system alone.