| Comment Number: | OL-10510440 |
| Received: | 3/16/2005 9:39:12 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 do not agree with the proposed National Security Personnel System (NSPS) regulations issued by the Department of Defense (the Department) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). I believe that these proposed regulations exceed the authority Congress granted in the NSPS statute in the following ways. The Department’s proposed NSPS regulations 9901.905(a) and 9901.914(d)(5) violate Congress’ explicit order in 5 U.S.C. 9902(b) to preserve collective bargaining by making any changes permanent and not subject to negotiation. It seems to me that any proposal would be stronger and more fair having stood up to scrutiny from all sides of the issue. The Department’s proposed NSPS regulations declares that management will now have the power “to take whatever other actions may be necessary to carry out the Department’s mission,” a provision that could create an atmosphere where a few could hold absolute power over the scope of what is considered the "mission" and what is considered right for the people in "power." This proposed management “right” effectively ends collective bargaining in the Department, in direct violation of Congress’ specific order to the contrary, as management can literally apply it to any situation in the Department to deny bargaining. In 5 U.S.C. 9902(m)(6), Congress required the Department to ensure that any new labor relations system provided for an independent third party review of the Department’s decisions. However, the Department’s proposed NSPS regulation 9901.907 (a)(1) intends to create a new labor relations review board, costing hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to invent a structure similar to the existing FLRA. Further, under proposed NSPS regulation 9901.907, the members of this board would be appointed solely by the Secretary of Defense, with no Congressional or outside oversight. Our entire country was founded on the system of checks and balances. This should be evident in all aspects of our government. Proposed NSPS regulation 9901.907(a)(1) violates Congress’ specific instructions in 5 U.S.C. 9902 (m) (6) to ensure independent third party reviews of the Department’s labor relations decisions. In proposed NSPS regulation 9901.907(a)(1), the Secretary of Defense is provided the unilateral power to appoint as many members to this review board as desired. It is obvious that this review board should be balanced and should not be made up of members from one party or another. It should be balanced and fair and should not be subject to political pressure from either party that happens to be in power. The whole Civil Service workforce was created to be separate from political pressure. This proposal is an emphatic rejection of Congress’ instructions in 5 U.S.C. 9902(m)(6). The proposed NSPS regulation 9901.807(k)(8)(iii) denies employees their right to a fair hearing of their appeals for adverse actions taken against them by the Department. In this proposal, the Department reserves for itself the right to unilaterally reverse the decision of an MSPB Administrative Judge (AJ), merely because the Department does not agree that the decision was correct. This is the equivalent of the prosecution being able to tell a courtroom judge that the decision just rendered is not what the prosecution wanted, so the prosecution will overturn the judge’s decision! DoD and OPM should scrap their harmful proposals for NSPS and work collaboratively with employee unions to develop a new system, as Congress directed them to do!