| Comment Number: | OL-10509510 |
| Received: | 3/15/2005 3:56:10 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 am writing to express concern about changes to work rules in the Department of Defense(DoD). The proposed regulations, known as the National Security Personnel System (NSPS), were printed in the Federal Register on 2/14/05. This message will be sent to both DoD and my representative in Congress. I am angry that these proposals treat the employees who help defend our country as the enemy. DoD employees work hard and are committed. Mistreating the employees will hurt the agency's mission, and I am very upset that this is what the NSPS does. NSPS destroys objectivity in the way workers are paid, evaluated, promoted, fired, scheduled, and treated by creating a system in which federal managers are influenced by favoritism, rather than serving the civil concerns of the American people. Under the General Schedule, employee pay is funded by Congress and cannot be taken away. However, NSPS will take away this certainty. In the past--as recently as just last year--DoD did not fund its awards program. Given the agency's miserable record on this issue, how can employees feel confident that their salaries and bonuses will be funded in the future? With the new patronage pay system, which DoD calls "pay for performance," the amount of a worker's salary will depend almost completely on the personal judgement of his or her manager. This system will force workers to compete with one another for pay raises, which will destroy teamwork and reward short-term outcomes. There is no guarantee that even the best workers will receive a pay raise, or that the pay raise offered will be fair or competitive. This system will create a situation in which workers are in conflict with one another and afraid to speak out about harassment, violations of the law, and workplace safety problems. Furthermore, there will be no impartial appeal system to assure that everyone is treated fairly. NSPS will allow managers to schedule employees to work without sufficient advance notice of schedule changes. This will make it extremely difficult for working parents to care for their children. It will also mean that abusive managers could harass employees with bad schedules or short notice. Overtime rotations can be canceled, which means that employees may not be able to plan adequately for childcare and other important responsibilities. Federal employees could be assigned anywhere in the world, even into a war zone, with little or no notice. Public employees are proud to serve our country, but they are also responsible for caring for their families and personal obligations. America is at war. We are fighting for democracy abroad, but these regulations are an attack on workers' basic rights. Furthermore, NSPS will divert the attention of defense workers from the soldiers' welfare to protecting themselves from abuse on the job. I urge you to force the DoD to rethink this proposal. We need work rules that preserve fairness, serve the American people, and respect the rights of Defense Department workers.