GovernmentExecutive.com

Three House lawmakers are urging the Pentagon to ensure that employees working under a new personnel system receive the compensation next year that they anticipated.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Reps. Tom Davis, R-Va., Frank Wolf, R-Va., and James Moran, D-Va., expressed concern over a new policy that will change the way some Defense Department employees will receive the 2008 governmentwide pay and cost-of-living increase.

"We have been contacted by numerous constituents gravely concerned about a recent announcement that they will not be receiving the across-the-board pay raise with other federal employees due to their transfer into [the] National Security Personnel System," the lawmakers wrote.

The Pentagon last month announced that 110,000 employees working under the first wave of NSPS, known as Spiral 1, will receive half of the 2008 pay increase as an adjustment to their base salary, provided they earn an acceptable performance rating. The other half will be added to performance pay pools and distributed based on quality of work, the department said.

The lawmakers noted in the letter that their concern is not over NSPS in general or over other efforts to compensate employees based on performance. Rather, they noted, the concerns stem from the fact that "these employees . . . reportedly were informed from the outset that for the first year in NSPS they would at least receive their base pay increase."

According to one Spiral 1.1 employee, who spoke under condition of anonymity, many NSPS employees had expected to receive the normal across-the-board pay increase in January as well as an additional performance raise, as was the case for 2007 payouts.

Some have expressed concern that under the new policy, many NSPS employees who received good performance reviews would receive a raise lower than those on the General Schedule. That could be even more of the case in 2009, when the full governmentwide increase will be allocated to performance pay pools and distributed based on performance.

"It would be difficult if not impossible to recruit or retain employees if they could not rely on their promised salaries," the lawmakers wrote. "But an even more difficult task will be meeting the cost of replacing employees or increasing hiring efforts in general if employees do not have confidence in the personnel system."

NSPS spokeswoman Joyce Frank said Tuesday that the department had not officially received the lawmakers' letter and therefore could not comment on it. "When we receive it, we will look into the concerns raised by the representatives," she said.

Frank added, however, that the department is capable of making meaningful and fair distinctions in performance and is ready to take the next step toward a more credible and robust pay system. "NSPS actually offers employees opportunities for greater increases than before," she said.

The department plans to add an additional 90,000 nonbargaining unit employees to the personnel system in fiscal 2008. Eventually, the system is slated to encompass 700,000 civilian employees.

COMMENTS

• According to the job listings on OPM, I applied for a positon and out of 300+ applicants I was selected in the top (4) for an interview. The job listing stated from 26k to 35k/yr. I was offered the job because of my background/experience due to my Navy background that fitted this position. They offered me $26k (entry level) claiming, "We're weren't hiring for experience because someone can learn on this job" and "If we started you at a higher GS-4 (Step 10) other GS-4's in that position would be upset." That's not my problem that's their problem for not negotiating a fair salary. If they weren't looking to hire for experience....why did they select me FOR my experiences? ALSO, they stated the salary was a 'fixed' rate and not negotiable. OPM listed the salary range on the website and offered me the job at $26k stating it was never a "range" so I've submitted my Congressional Letter of Inquiry to find out WHY this was done providing false/mileading job advertisement under bait-and-switch tactics just so they could fill this position at the lowest salary level. Fraudulent scam tactics on a federal level! BH Posted April 17, 2008 2:36 PM
• It's time for legal acion here. COLAs should not be apart of NSPS. In fact NSPS training never mention once about the COLA being part of the program, but once we entered the NSPS project all kinds of new rules came out of the wood work. Guy Posted January 7, 2008 3:41 PM
• The old system of doing nothing and still getting a pay raise is over. Surprisingly this is not a new concept for most workers. With the new system, there is a chance to make more money so stop complaining and embrace change or at least begin working for your salary. Karen Smalls Posted December 14, 2007 12:47 PM