Defense Civilians Transferring To New Personnel System

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Post
November 1, 2007
Pg. D4
Federal Diary
By Stephen Barr
Although buffeted by union lawsuits and congressional scrutiny, the new personnel system for Defense Department civil service employees is growing.
Pentagon officials announced yesterday that about 75,000 civilian employees will transfer into the National Security Personnel System by March, bringing the number of employees covered by the new system to more than 184,000.
The new system more closely ties pay raises to occupations, locations and job performance, and has been promoted as a possible model for the rest of the government by the Bush administration. A key feature of the new system is "pay bands," or broad salary ranges, that would replace the decades-old General Schedule used across most of the government.
The system's rollout has been slowed by controversy over efforts to curb union rights at Defense and to require employees to appeal major disciplinary actions to Defense officials before they can gain access to an independent board and to the courts.
As with previous transfers of employees into the NSPS, the latest round includes only employees in jobs that are not covered by union contracts. The Pentagon has put off any transfers of unionized workers until House-Senate negotiators decide whether to repeal parts of the two-year-old system. About 250,000 white-collar employees are in collective bargaining units.
Of the 75,000 employees scheduled to shift to the NSPS, about 18,000 will convert before January, and more than 56,900 others will follow them by the end of March, Mary E. Lacey, the NSPS program executive officer, said.
The employees work for more than 40 major components, including the Army and Marine Corps headquarters, the Army's Military District of Washington and the Defense Logistics Agency at Fort Belvoir.
Lacey said concerns about workload and business operations has delayed the transfer of an additional 32,000 Defense employees into the NSPS. Instead of spring, they may transfer late next year, she indicated.
In addition to unionized workers, the transfer of some other Defense employees has been put on hold, also because of litigation or congressional concerns. They include blue-collar workers, teachers in Defense schools, and scientists and researchers in Defense labs.
 
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