DHS to Delay Pay System

The Department of Homeland Security has said it will delay by up to a year the startup of its new classification and pay-for-performance system, with the first group of affected employees now scheduled to move under that system around January 2007—meaning the first raises determined by the system likely would be in January 2008. DHS unions have been urging the department to go back to the drawing board on its personnel rules in the wake of a federal judge’s recent injunction against the parts of the rules involving union rights and appeal rights. The injunction did not directly address the pay and classification elements, but in many cases those provisions are intertwined with union rights. DHS recently asked the judge to narrow the scope of that order, a request that unions oppose. In addition, the government may appeal the ruling. The first phase of the DHS pay system is set to involve about 8,000 employees from headquarters, Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection, Science and Technology, Emergency Preparedness and Response, and Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. About another 75,000 employees would be phased in to the new pay system over an additional two years.