Federal Daily - March 18, 2009

DoD Halts Further NSPS Conversions Pending Review

The DoD announced on March 16 it was halting further employee conversions to the National Security Personnel System (NSPS) until it had a chance to review the pay-for-performance system with the Office of Personnel Management and key stakeholders. This affects roughly 2,000 employees in organizations scheduled to convert to NSPS this spring. Those organizations are adjusting their plans accordingly, DoD said. During the review, organizations already covered by NSPS will continue to operate under current NSPS policies, regulations and procedures. Labor unions have complained the system is unfair and arbitrary. “This administration is committed to operating fair, transparent, and effective personnel systems, and we are undertaking this review to assess whether NSPS meets these objectives,” said Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn. Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Texas, chairman of the Readiness Subcommittee, issued a statement applauding the move. “We encourage DoD to conduct this review as expeditiously as possible in order to minimize the period of uncertainty for all DoD civilian employees,” they wrote. Last month, Skelton and Ortiz wrote a letter expressing concerns over recent reports from the Government Accountability Office and the Congressional Budget Office that have raised questions over the cost of NSPS, its transparency, and potential negative effects on DoD employees. NSPS implementation began in 2006, changing the way DoD civilians are hired, compensated, promoted and rewarded. The system currently covers approximately 205,000 DoD employees. To see more, go to: www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=12556 or http://armedservices.house.gov/apps/list/press/
armedsvc_dem/skeltonortizpr031709.shtml.

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Bill Would Expand Disability Benefits for Federal Firefighters

Two senators on March 16 introduced a bill that would—if passed into law—strengthen disability compensation protections for thousands of federal firefighters. The bill, Federal Firefighters Fairness Act, introduced by Sens. Tom Carper, D-Del., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, would change disability rules regarding occupational illnesses. Under current law, the federal government does not presume that certain illnesses associated with firefighting, such as heart and lung disease, are job-related. Instead, to qualify for disability retirement, a federal firefighter who suffers from an occupational illness must specify the precise exposure that caused the illness. The bill would change this by presuming that the hazardous work environment in which firefighters operate caused the illness, unless the employing agency can demonstrate otherwise. The legislation also would bring the federal government’s laws into conformity with the firefighter disability laws of 41 states. “Our legislation would relieve federal firefighters of an unnecessary obstacle to receiving the badly needed benefits that they deserve when they fall ill as a result of their inherently hazardous work environment,” Collins said. The legislation is supported by a number of major national fire service organizations. To see more, go to:
http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.
Detail&Affiliation=R&PressRelease_id=11868543-a212-4ac4-b48d-
05fc53086de1&Month=3&Year=2009.

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Lawmakers Support Measure to Aid Growing Number of Women Vets

Lawmakers introduced a measure that would, if made into law, help prepare the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for the influx of women veterans who will need VA health care in the future. The Women Veterans Health Improvement Act was introduced March 16 by Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. The bill would require VA to implement a program to train, educate and certify VA mental health professionals to care for women with sexual trauma, and require a comprehensive assessment of the barriers women are facing in accessing VA care. It also would authorize a survey on the effects the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have had on the health of women who have served there and create a pilot program that provides child care to women veterans receiving VA mental health care. The measure would require VA to begin a pilot program that provides readjustment counseling to women vets in group retreat settings. “Women have stepped up to serve at unprecedented levels,” said Murray. “As more women begin to transition home, and step back into lives as mothers, wives and citizens, the VA must be there for them.” To see more, go to: http://murray.senate.gov/news.cfm?id=309854.

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