Ask the Lawyer received the following question (paraphrased for easier reading and clarity) from a reader on a legal matter that might be of interest to the entire audience.
Q:
I was reassigned to NSPS (the National Security Personnel System at the Department of Defense) from a GS-7 position. On the conversion back from NSPS to the General Schedule (GS), I am now a GS-9, step 1. If NSPS had never been established, I would have been a GS-9, step 2 by now and receiving that compensation level.
The 2010 National Defense Authorization Act, which repealed NSPS, states that employees should be converted from NSPS back to the “statutory pay system and all other aspects of the personnel system that last applied to such an employee.” Wouldn’t my personal pay and grade fall into this? Shouldn’t I get back pay, step increases and the time I have worked in my position credited as a GS-9? There are quite a few people who were reassigned into NSPS and not promoted.
A:
You are asking a complicated question and the answer is not known. Many people will lose out with the conversion back to the GS from NSPS. DoD has promised that no one will lose pay, but many will be in a less advantageous position. Whether a court would be open to providing relief to these disadvantaged NSPS converts is unknown. But the issue may very well be viewed negatively unless an employee can show an actual loss of salary.
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1 Comment
The conversion form NSPS to GS has been a nightmare. I hope the NSPS committee looks at the demographics / racial breakdown of converted employees during the conversion especially GS level PD classifications and salary increases of minorities to non-minorites. In my organization no miniorities have been evaluated above their current pay level. The PD classifications seems to benefit only a select group of people. Why are former GS and NSPS employees being overlooked during the conversion back to GS when the they would have recieved greater pay increase had we never converted to NSPS.