| Comment Number: | OL-10510675 |
| Received: | 3/16/2005 11:14:00 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:
Dear Chairman/Chairperson I am very concerned about changes to work rules in the Department of Defense (DoD). I have read the proposed regulations, known as the National Security Personnel System (NSPS), that were printed in the Federal Register. I have worked for DoD for over 40 years. I am upset that these proposals seem to say that the DoD employees who help defend our country are inadequate. I believe that DoD employees work hard and are committed to the needs of the Military Services. I believe that this lack of faith in the employees will hurt the employee, the men and women in uniform and the country. This NSPS system will change the way workers are paid, evaluated, promoted, fired, scheduled, and treated. These new rules would create a system in which federal managers could be influenced more by politics rather than serving the national defense concerns of the American people. The General Schedule, employee pay system was clear. It was funded by Congress and the rules were well established and understood by all of the employees. The NSPS system will take away this clarity on how the system will work. Already we are told that it may take several years for the NSPS system to fully develop and be used with any kind of uniformity. This is very unacceptable. In addition, the NSPS pilot program was certainty not highly successful based on the comments I have read about in the newpaper. I would have expected that any major changes to the General Schedule System would result in significant improvements to the entire system. This does not seem to be the case. The new DoD pay system will depend on the personal judgment of his or her manager. This system will force workers to compete with one another for pay raises, which will destroy teamwork and cause increased conflict among employees. There is no guarantee that even the best workers will receive a pay raise or that the pay offered will be fair or competitive. Furthermore, there will be no impartial appeal system to assure that everyone is treated fairly. There is no assurance that Managers and Supervisors will not reward themselves with the pay raises at the expense of the subordinate employees NSPS will allow managers to schedule employees to work without sufficient advance notice of schedule changes. It may allow abusive managers to harass employees with bad schedules or short notice. This could result in situations where employees have difficulty in adequately planning for family matters and other important responsibilities. Federal employees could be assigned to work anywhere with little or no notice. NSPS need work rules that preserve fairness, serve the American people, and respect the rights of Defense Department employees. I think that the NSPS system has the potential to be unfair and a slap in the face to DoD employees. I respectfully request that the NSPS system continue to be tested for an additional three years to develop a superior system that is fair and consistent with the needs of the Military Services and DoD employees. Respectfully Walter Welch