Comment Number: OL-10509289
Received: 3/15/2005 2:18:38 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:

I have 20 years vested in Civil Service and am over the age of 50. Have endured two base closures, moved family from their roots, and loved ones to put food on the table by staying with Federal Employment. Endured RIF 3 times, and two positions deleted. Always continued to be a top performer no matter where I was placed. Stepped over for promotion to folks my senior in service but appreciated their service to country and their right of passage to that promotion for years of dedicated service. Always looking to the time (now) when I too, would be recognized for my dedication and exemplary performance. Earning the right to promotion based on past and current performance. To not panic every time there was a RIF because I now had "paid my dues" and should feel in my senior years that based on past performance, dedication and vested tenure I would now be protected and rewarded for that service to my country. No one wants to see anyone go through RIF. When you are new to the system you are younger, you are very aware of that possibility and plan according. Current Employees such as myself have based our financial future on the fact that we have dedicated our lives to the service of this great nation. When you hit twenty years of time vested, it is now that you should be able to stop holding your breath every time there is position / personnel movement. We have earned that right! It was promised to us the day we took our oath. It has been what we have based our entire life and future on. Our security of employment to provide for our families and for ourselves in our senior years. This is one of the worst breeches of promises I have seen outside the promise to our veterans and their families for lifetime health care. This ranks right up there. "Use, abuse and lose em” attitude of the elected officials is sickening! All supervisors I have had, (and there have been many) have sited me as "one of the best". Dedicated, a patriot and someone who lived the Air Force Values "Integrity First - Service Before Self - Excellence In All We Do” It is not my performance I am concerned about. It is about a system that will reek of the "good ol boy network" None of us are stupid, we work here and see it first hand every day. Is it "legal" for this activity to be going on? No, of course not and everyone will tell you that it doesn't but it does. It is the pink elephant in the middle of the office you do not see or talk about! In the current civil service system, there are fail-safes in place that keep this activity from becoming rampant and does keep it in check to some degree. The NSPS all but comes out and states Its ok to give anyone a pink slip if you can get some kind of excuse to do it - don't have to really prove anything - just a ledge and push the paperwork. Want your "friend’s son” to get that promotion even though a employee who has worked toward that placement for 9 years and is more than qualified is in line for it and your friends son has 18 months time vested...its ok. If you scratch his back, he will let you borrow his boat this summer. Anyone who has ever worked knows this is exactly how it goes if there are not protective rules in place such as the current ones that have served this nation well for years! I feel that this breech of promise and drastic change of venue needs to reevaluate. Not just for the civil service employee’s rights, but for the reputation of this country! We are losing "face" with the world rapidly! Do you really think any other country will put any value on anything the United States "says" it will do if it cannot keep faith with its own people? The record has already been set on how our country has been in breech of promise to our veterans who have given their lives blood for this nation. Now you want to gut the civil service system and breech of promise to thousands of personnel who too have given of their life in dedication to the nation. Next up breech of promise for Social Security. The U.S. is quickly being viewed a chronic liar. Your actions are louder than words. It seems that our government lacks INTEGRITY. Get a clue this is not just about the effect on the civil service personnel. It will affect this nation in so many negative waves our country will feel its destructive force for years to come!