With the Department of Defense set to issue final
regulations for its National Security Personnel System there
is much focus on labor relations, the employee appeals
process and compensation aspects, but less on new hiring
flexibilities.
The Merit Systems Protection Board recently took a look at
some of the staffing flexibilities allowed under the NSPS
that could form the basis of government-wide reform through
White House efforts such as the Working for America Act.
While DoD still has to follow merit systems principles such
as recruiting from all segments of society, basing selection
on fair and open competition with equal employment
opportunity and veteran’s preference laws, it no longer must
adhere to career conditional appointment rules, MSPB noted
in its most recent Issues of Merit Newsletter.
It said that instead new employees will get either career or
time-limited appointments in the competitive or excepted
service, where time-limited appointments may be converted to
career without further competition under certain conditions.
