October 7, 2009 - Today, in a news release issued by the Senate Armed Services Committee, Chairman Carl Levin and Ranking Member John McCain announced the contents of the Fiscal Year 2010 National Defense Authorization Act conference report. The report contained several key provisions impacting the federal workforce. The highlight of the report, and a great development for federal workers, is language that would repeal the controversial National Security Personnel System (NSPS). “The conference report repeals the authority for the National Security Personnel System (NSPS) and requires the transition of NSPS employees to previously existing civilian personnel systems, while providing DOD with new personnel flexibilities – in the areas of hiring and assigning personnel and appraising employee performance – that would extend across the entire DOD civilian workforce,” said the Committee’s news release. “The Secretary of Defense would be afforded an opportunity to propose additional personnel flexibilities, if he determines that such flexibilities would be in the best interest of DOD.”
According to the report, NSPS will be abolished, and the over 200,000 employees enrolled under the flawed system must be moved back to existing pay systems by January 1, 2012. Furthermore, any “personnel flexibilities” the Secretary of Defense might choose to ask for would require a proactive act of Congress to be authorized. The Secretary would also have to provide draft regulations of the flexibilities being proposed. Altogether, these would be difficult obstacles to overcome in the wake of a failed NSPS system. Also included in the conference report were favorable provisions that would do the following:
· Provide federal employees enrolled under the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) credit for their unused sick leave upon retirement, similarly as their Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) counterparts do. This benefit will be phased in. FERS retirees would have 50 percent of their unused sick leave time added to their time of service in calculating their retirement annuity through FY13. In FY14 and beyond, FERS retirees would have all their unused sick leave added to their service time.
· Phase out cost of living allowances for federal employees working in Hawaii, Alaska, and other non-foreign U.S. territories, and would phase in locality comparability pay in place of the allowances.
· Allow former federal employees who receive a federal annuity from other than the Civil Retirement and Disability Fund to retain their annuity if reemployed by DOD.
· Allow former federal employees under the Federal Employee Retirement System who withdrew their contributions to the retirement trust fund, thereby waiving retirement credit for those years of service, to redeposit their earlier contributions, plus interest, upon reemployment with the federal government.
· Allow employees under the Civil Service Retirement System to take their highest salary, including their deemed full-time salary for years of part-time work, to be used in computing benefits derived from a pre-1986 salary.
The conference report will now be sent to both houses of Congress for a vote. Once cleared by both chambers, the legislation will be sent to the President for his signature.
