DHS Personnel System Developments Ahead

A team of federal personnel experts charged with designing a personnel system for the Department of Homeland Security is nearing the end of its work on a plan that will set pay, promotion, job classification, labor-management, disciplinary and other practices at the department. The goal is for the team, which conducted “town hall” type meetings as well as focus group sessions, to complete work in about a month and present its recommendations to a review committee consisting of DHS, Office of Personnel Management and union officials. That committee in turn will make recommendations to DHS secretary Tom Ridge and OPM director Kay Coles James, who will then issue proposed rules. Final rules are expected in early 2004. Since the formal creation of DHS earlier this year, employees transferred in mainly have been working under the rules that applied to them in their predecessor agencies.