DoD Issues also Pending

Several issues involving DoD’s revisions in personnel policy, the national security personnel system, also are pending. The House’s DoD appropriations bill contains provision that bars the Pentagon from spending money on the labor relations and appeal rights parts of the NSPS, which like the DHS system have been blocked by a court injunction. The Pentagon has appealed that injunction to the same appeals court that upheld the injunction in the DHS case. That language is largely a moot point for the present but it could become important if the appeals court decides to overturn a lower judge’s decision blocking those provisions; the appeals panel still has not scheduled arguments in that case. Meanwhile, DoD plans to move ahead with the next phase of NSPS starting in October, bringing in about 66,000 non-union employees who will not be affected by the outcome of the labor relations provisions.