Comment Number: OL-10509483
Received: 3/15/2005 3:42:18 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:

1. NSPS changes and limits the core principles of federal employment law and regulations. 2. NSPS trial used only 4% of federal employees. 3. NSPS did not post the results of the limited trials. 4. Two years of testing with Department of Homeland Security results were not disclosed. 5. NSPS will severely limit employee ability to organize and bargain collectively. 6. NSPS will not ensure that all affected DOD employees are afforded due process protections. 7. DOD has usurped authority from OPM and congress in creating NSPS. 8. DOD has not followed the 30/30/30 process. 9. NSPS does not clearly identify the classification system to be used and how it wil be implemented to treat current employees failry. 10. Pay band salary data is missing from Table 1. 11. Correlation of NSPS Bands to GS pay schedules are not shown. 12. NSPS does not identify “artificial distinctions between closely related levels of work”. 13. NSPS allows employees to “request” reconsideration of classifications, but does not guarantee a fair review by impartial personnel. 14. No funding increases for implementing NSPS. (Training costs will be horrendous and unfunded) 15. NSPS does not have additional funds for implementing pay adjustments without taking pay from some employees and giving it to other employees. 16. Methods or means for changing pay bands is missing. 17. Total disregard for implied employment contract under CSRS and FERS between employee and Government. 18. Employee competition pools seem to be gigantic and may include many USACE districts or divisions, 19. Upward mobility employees who are due within grade increase have been ignored. 20. Within grade increases for upward mobility people are not identified. 21. Severely limited employee rights to collective bargaining. 22. Eliminated the due process rights that enable employees to speak with confidence when they see wrongdoing or mismanagement. 23. NSPS asks the employees to TRUST DOD Secretary and senior staff to ensure that their best interest is represented. 24. NSPS, without additional funding, will not have equitable raises for highest performing employees without downgrading or removing average performing employees. 25. Current system budget constraints severely limits first line supervisors ability to make performance award. NSPS will magnify the negative aspects of first line supervisors ability to get high performing employees raises. 26. Senior Army Office told us that the lack of details was intentional in an effort to thwart unions. 27. NSPS will expand the “good ole boys” network. Supervisors will be able get rid of questioning employees and hire “good ole boys” without the current open and equitable consideration constraints. 28. NSPS states longevity will no longer be a key factor in determining employees to be removed during a RIF. Older employees typically are receiving higher salaries and this could be a factor in their being selected during a RIF process even though they are quality performers. 29. NSPS states that no one will lose money during the conversion. However, at the FAA, where pay banding has been in place for a few years, 47,000 employees were “capped out” at their current salaries and are not allowed cost of living raises until such time as cost of living raises catch up to their current salaries. 30. Grading performance is never objective. 31. Having all potential for salary increase riding on your performance appraisal will create adversarial relationships between co-workers. 32. NSPS does nothing to help with national security 33. Under NSPS, DoD civilians can be assigned anywhere in the world, even to a war zone, with little or no notice. 34. I will lose my benefits under NSPS. 35. Seniority will no longer count in the event of a reduction in force (RIF). 36. I will lose my job security and there will be layoffs. 37. I will lose pay under NSPS and I won’t get credit for the time I’ve already spent waiting for my next within grade increase. 38. There will be no locality pay under NSPS. 39. NSPS is just a way to freeze the pay of DoD civilians, since we’re no longer entitled to the automatic January pay increase or within-grade increases. 40. Under NSPS, funds for salaries and bonuses will no longer be certain. 41. My supervisor will not be prepared and equipped to fairly and objectively rate my performance, and will not be held accountable for exercising his responsibility under NSPS. 42. Unions have had no involvement in developing NSPS. 43. NSPS will do away with bargaining units and employee unions. 44. Employees will lose their fundamental rights to grieve or appeal unfair decisions or adverse actions. 45. NSPS is being used to circumvent Whistle Blower laws and rules. 46. Under NSPS, there is no process for employees to challenge their performance rating. 47. Under NSPS, there is no due process for employees affected by an adverse action. 48. The proposed appeal system is not an impartial process. 49. The proposed regulations severely limit Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and rights of appeal. 50. NSPS appears very similar to the old GS to GM fiasco from 10 to 15 years ago. The GM system was a way to give upper management the most money, and it ignored the middle and lower management and working employees. 51. It’s back to the dog eat dog world of getting table scraps from the impossible to reach table. Those who have lived within the Government their whole career and are mindless robots following the pay scales up the ladder will be totally lost in the competitive arena. 52. NSPS seems to be a throwback to the spoils system used during the Reconstruction Program following the Civil War. DOD will be allowed to do anything the Secretary wants no matter how adversely it impacts the working level employees. 53. Proponents of NSPS have presented a series of half-truths with minimal explanations in order to “sell” their system. 54. NSPS will be a major advantage to the senior supervisors within the Government, but the lower ranked supervisors and non-supervisory personnel are placed in a serious disadvantage for pay and retention.