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AFDW Commander holds town hall meeting to discusss AFDW civilians conversion from NSPS to GS

  • Published
  • AFDW/ PA
Air Force District of Washington --  Headquarters Air Force District of Washington successfully met the deadline of July 4, 2010 to convert employees under the National Security Personnel System to the General Schedule.

The conversion was directed under the Fiscal Year 2010 National Defense Authorization Act, which repealed the National Security Personnel System and resulted in the mandatory transition of more than 44,000 Air Force federal employees to other personnel and pay systems.

AFDW's transition was successful, however a few civilian positions graded out lower than employees had expected. AFDW Commander Maj. Gen. Darrell Jones held a town hall meeting with transitioning employees July 14 to provide a forum to address concerns expressed by AFDW personnel.

Many of the concerns centered on the classification (grade) assigned to the employees' position descriptions. Position Descriptions describe a position's major duties, responsibilities and supervisory relationship.

"We converted more than 2,700 employees within the National Capital Region," the general said during the meeting. "During the next three months we are going to find inaccuracies and fix the mistakes we find."

Although Headquarters Air Force has placed a moratorium on all position review actions, General Jones encouraged personnel to appeal the classifications of their core documents if the supervisor believes the core documents were incorrectly classified. Whereas AFDW/A1 will not be able to complete a position review until the moratorium is lifted, the General said personnel specialist will have a "head start" on fixing inaccuracies if supervisors do the work now.

Employees who do not want to wait until the moratorium is lifted may also appeal the classifications, the general said. The appeals process is recommended to dispute position classifications. A Classification Appeal is a written request by a federal employee to have an officially designated deciding official review the classification of the position occupied. All DoD employees are entitled to appeal the classification of their positions without restraint, coercion, discrimination, or fear of reprisal.

Employees may seek a change in the grade, occupational series, and sometimes the title of their position. They may file a classification appeal with the DoD Civilian Personnel Management Service or with the Office of Personnel Management. If filed with DoD first, the employee is given a second opportunity to appeal DoD's decision with OPM. If an employee chooses to go file an appeal directly with OPM, the request is binding and there is no further recourse.

"HQ AFDW classifiers adhere to the strict standards established by the Office of Personnel Management when assigning GS ratings to a position," said General Jones. "Classification actions are based on the actual work performed and required in the position, not upon the employees' qualifications or their previous grade."

Classifying a position at the accurate grade for the assigned duties and responsibilities ensures balance of the organization and is vital toward maintaining classification accuracy across the Air Force.

"This is the time to convert out of NSPS back to the General Schedule. It is not the time to 'right size' or 'reclassify' our organization to make it what we want it to be," the general said. "The reality is we cannot have a 'flat' organization. We cannot sustain an organization where we have a colonel as a director, a GS-15 as a deputy, and then a directorate full of GS-14s. There has to be a hierarchy."

By law, employees will not lose pay upon conversion. Across the AF, approximately 70 percent of those converting received a pay increase. If the employee's pay is above the rate range for the appropriate GS grade to which he or she is assigned, the employee was placed on pay retention to ensure there was no decrease/loss of pay upon conversion.

"If your reclassified grade is hurting your pride [because you were downgraded], I ask that you grit your teeth a little and let us see where we can make changes," General Jones said. "If it's hurting your pocketbook, that's a little different and we need to work those issues first."

To ensure transparency as the NSPS to GS conversion continues, the general is forming an oversight team of employees assigned to HQ AFDW two-digit organizations. This team will work hand-in-glove with the Civilian Personnel specialists throughout the process to address HQ AFDW employees' concerns and ensure the workforce receives timely information on the process.

Information about the NSPS-to-GS conversion will be posted on the AFDW website. This website will include links to outside information sources, as well as stories and frequently asked questions associated with AFDW's conversion.