Go-Slow Approach Emphasized

At the hearing, a DHS representative also emphasized that the process would be a slow one, even though the rules could be made effective at any time. Those rules likely won’t be put into effect until fall, DHS chief human capital officer Ron James said, with new appeal and union negotiation procedures effective at that time. The new job classification and performance system also will begin then but will cover only about 8,000 employees at first, officials said. He also stressed that there would be no effect on pay for the majority of the department’s potentially affected employees until 2009. “Through this phased approach, the vast majority of DHS employees will have two to three full cycles under new performance management provisions prior to performance being used to distinguish levels of pay,” James said in his testimony.