Dear Bureau Pat

Dear Bureau Pat: What does bargaining unit status “7777" mean?

Bureau Pat — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 10:42:00 GMT

Dear Bureau Pat,

I was looking at my SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action, and noticed "7777" in section 37, entitled Bargaining Unit Status. What does it mean?

Dear Eligible,

To shed some needed light, the SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action, is a permanent record in your Official Personnel Folder (OPF). It is the required form of notification for accessions, conversions, and separations, and for corrections and cancellations of those actions. The form is also used to document and report all personnel actions except mass transfer and mass change actions, which may be reported by a listing of the employees impacted. Got that? Good. The area on the form related to your question is block 37.

This block identifies the bargaining unit status (BUS - how could it have a government name without an acronym to recall) to which you belong, whether or not you are actually a member of a labor organization. The codes may be found in the Office of Labor Management Relations publication, Union Representation in the Federal Government. The entry must match one of the valid codes contained on the Bargaining Unit Status Code Table. The code will indicate a specific bargaining unit or one of the following conditions:

Two BUS codes that are universal throughout the Federal sector are 7777 and 8888.

7777-Eligible but not in bargaining unit.
8888-Ineligible for inclusion in a bargaining unit.

A 7777 code identifies positions that are eligible for representation by a labor union; however, no union has been certified as exclusive representative for those employees. A union may seek to represent employees with a BUS code of 7777 through the petition, election and certification process.

While the Federal Service Labor Management Relations Statute provides that employees may form, join, or assist any labor organization, there are some Federal employees that cannot be represented by a union. That exclusion is noted on the SF-50 as BUS code 8888. Positions coded as 8888 include supervisors, management officials, and personnelists, among others.

The Only,

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Dear Bureau Pat: Does the VA pay for reproductive care?

Bureau Pat — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 13:40:00 GMT

Dear Bureau Pat,

Is it true that women veterans, regardless of whether they have a service related injury or not, get free pre and post pregnancy care at VA expense, and our tax dollars are paying for it?

Dear OBGYN-envious,

Be proud that all veterans - regardless of race, sex, religion, or fertility - are eligible for health care benefits just by serving in the uniform during war or peacetime. They need not be "shot in the buttocks" and receive a purple heart to sit with the rest of us for hours in the medical waiting rooms.

In response to the growing number of female veterans - currently 5 percent of the veteran population and projected to be 7 percent by 2012 - the VA has developed programs to meet their unique health care needs. And we're not just talking about the available of salads on bases so the women can look good in their uniforms.

In 1992, the Veterans Health Care Act authorized new and expanded services for female veterans, including counseling for sexual trauma on a priority basis and as well as Pap smears, mammographies, and general reproductive health care (including birth control and treatment of menopause) at many VA medical facilities.

The Veterans' Health Care Eligibility Reform Act of 1996 expanded services further to include maternity and infertility benefits, though clearly not simultaneously.

As part of the VA's continuum of health care services, female veterans receive preventive health attention. The services available to women veterans include primary care, gender-specific care, and evaluation and treatment for osteoporosis.

In 1999, the uniform benefits package expanded services to include labor and delivery to female veterans, but it does not provide care to the child after birth. The package also includes infertility evaluation and limited treatment.

Eligibility for VA health care is dependent upon a number of variables, which may influence the final determination of the services for which a veteran qualifies. These factors include the nature of a veteran's discharge from military service (e.g., honorable, other than honorable, dishonorable), length of service, VA adjudicated disabilities (commonly referred to as service-connected disabilities), income level, and available VA resources among others.

The Only,

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Dear Bureau Pat: Please explain the form for Veteran Preference

Bureau Pat — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:01:00 GMT

Dear Bureau Pat,

How do I claim Veteran's preference for a federal job? I'm lost!

Dear Preferred,

Since the time of the Civil War - or as Letterman calls it, the era of John McCain's birth - Veterans of the Armed Forces have been given some degree of preference in appointments to federal jobs, although that's no longer true for Presidents. Recognizing that sacrifices are made by those serving in the Armed Forces, Congress enacted laws to prevent veterans seeking federal employment from being penalized because of the time spent in military service.

By law, veterans who are disabled or who served on active duty in the Armed Forces during certain specified time periods or in military campaigns are entitled to preference over non-veterans both in hiring from competitive lists of eligibles and in retention during reductions in force. This represents just one more benefit, aside from the cool uniforms, guns, and tax-free booze for making military members appreciated by the government.

Of course, the goal of this policy is not the placement of a veteran in every vacant federal job; this would be incompatible with the merit principle of public employment and piss a lot of scary postal workers and unions off. However, preference applies in hiring from civil service examinations, for most excepted service jobs, and when agencies make temporary appointments or use delegated examining authorities from the U. S. Office of Personnel Management.

General Requirements for Preference

To be entitled to preference, a veteran must meet the eligibility requirements in section 2108 of title 5, United States Code. This means that:

An honorable or general discharge is necessary. You can't punch your commander in the face and expect a cushy PLUM book job afterwards.
Military retirees at the rank of major, lieutenant commander, or higher are not eligible for preference unless they are disabled veterans. But don't worry, their service provides plenty of advantages over Joe the Plumber-types seeking federal pay.
National Guard and Reserve active duty for training purposes does not qualify for preference. They must be deployed in combat.
When applying for federal jobs, eligible veterans should claim preference on their application or resume. Applicants claiming 10-point preference must complete form SF-15, Application for 10-Point Veteran Preference.

On the bottom of the form SF-15, the blank areas are completed by the agency that decides to hire you. It is merely asking them to verify the validity of your claim for preference. The agency will review and validate your DD form 214, Report of Separation and is signed by the federal agency's designated Appointing Officer

TYPES OF PREFERENCE:

5-Point Preference

Five points are added to the passing Civil Service examination score of a veteran who served during major military campaigns, as outlined during the following periods:

During the period December 7, 1941, to July 1, 1955; or
For more than 180 consecutive days, any part of which occurred after January 31, 1955, and before October 15, 1976; or
For more than 180 consecutive days, any part of which occurred during the period beginning September 11, 2001, and ending on the date prescribed by Presidential proclamation or by law as the last day of Operation Iraqi Freedom; or
During the Gulf War from August 2, 1990 through January 2, 1992; or
In a campaign or expedition for which a campaign medal has been authorized, including El Salvador, Grenada, Haiti, Lebanon, Panama, Somalia, Southwest Asia, Bosnia, and the Global War on Terrorism.

Medal holders and Gulf War veterans who enlisted after September 7, 1980, or entered on active duty on or after October 14, 1982, must have served continuously for 24 months or the full period called or ordered to active duty to receive the extra points. The service requirement does not apply to veterans with compensable service-connected disabilities, or to veterans separated for disability in the line of duty, or for hardship. In plain English, if you were shot or injured in action, you're in.

10-Point Preference

Ten points are added to the passing Civil Service examination score of:

A veteran who served any time and who (1) has a present service-connected disability or (2) is receiving compensation, disability retirement benefits, or pension from the military or the Department of Veterans Affairs. Individuals who received a Purple Heart qualify as disabled veterans.
A spouse of certain deceased veterans who has not remarried, a spouse of a veteran unable to work because of a service-connected disability - this does not include your inability to stop fishing all day, and
A mother of a veteran who died in service or who is permanently and totally disabled.

It is important to note that entitlement to veterans' preference does not guarantee a job. There are many ways an agency can fill a vacancy other than by appointment from a list of eligibles. But pulling the veterans card is helpful for gaining entry in the federal employ, as well as handy for getting out of speeding tickets. Cops are suckers for a good military ID.

The Only,

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Dear Bureau Pat, What happens to my federal status if I have a break in service?

Bureau Pat — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 11:35:00 GMT

Dear Bureau Pat,

I have a Competitive Career Conditional Appointment, which was effective on 1/8/2006. Will I acquire Competitive status on 1/8/2009? Also, I was also off some time for medical reasons, but still received full-time checks from donated leave. Does that matter?

Dear Conditional,

The service requirement for Career Tenure is 3 years of substantially continuous creditable service to become a career employee, i.e. obtain career tenure. The 3-year period must begin and end with nontemporary employment in the competitive service.

Generally, substantially continuous creditable service must not include any break in service of more than 30 calendar days. If an employee does not complete the 3-year period, a single break in service of more than 30 calendar days will require the employee to serve a new 3-year period. (Periods of time in a nonpay status are not breaks in service and do not require the employee to begin a new 3-year period. However, they may extend the service time needed for career tenure.)

So in your case you should be good to go in 2009, however, check with your human resources department. It never hurts to ask and get into writing.

Obtaining Career status is crucial for federal employees, especially, during times of instability and economic downturn like we are in today. While federal government appears to be a recession proof job, government does have reductions in force (RIFs) and the path to career status is not guaranteed. The first year of service of an employee who is given a career-conditional appointment is considered a probationary period.

The probationary period is really the final and most important step in the examining process. It affords the supervisor an opportunity to evaluate the employee's performance and conduct on the job, and to remove the person without undue formality, if necessary. A person who is transferred, promoted, demoted, or reassigned before completing probation is required to complete the probationary period in the new position. Prior Federal civilian service counts toward completion of probation if it is in the same agency, same line of work, and without a break in service.

Care should be taken to distinguish the 1-year probationary period from the 3-year career-conditional period. The probationary period is used to determine the employee's ability and fitness required for permanent Government service. The 3-year career-conditional period is established only to measure the employee's interest in, and the Government's ability to provide, a career in the Federal service.

Note: career-conditional employees automatically become career employees upon completion of this service requirement. Additionally, employees with career tenure have a higher retention standing during layoffs.

For more information on career and career-conditional appointments, probationary period, tenure, and competitive status, consult Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), 5 CFR Part 315.

The Only,

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Dear Bureau Pat: How do I complete my self-assessment and is it required?

Bureau Pat — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:16:00 GMT

Dear Bureau Pat,

I'm a GS-7 employee in the DoD under the National Security Personnel System (NSPS). My new supervisor apparently is "borrowing" from our stuff in order to write hers. I am so busy doing what needs to be done that having to do this seems burdensome and unnecessary. How do I complete my self-assessment and is it really required of me?

Dear Self-assured,

Personnel systems within government vary, but all have self-assessment components to help supervisors get out of work and complete the annual performance assessments of their staff. Understand that this is a gift to you, as it's a chance to have input into your own performance rating instead of relying on the often shoddy memories of your supervisor. And the better you write your own performance appraisal, the more likely you are to see the same writing appear on your final rating. After all, who wants to rewrite something when you have a perfectly good, biased self-assessment to copy?

As a General Schedule (GS) employee and supervisor, I routinely provided my supervisor a self-assessment with the accomplishments for the year and ask my staff to do the same. It is about as fun as pulling out one's own hair own at a time, but nonetheless a necessity for the process.

As you will quickly realize, the more you document your successes throughout the year, the easier it is to write the year-end report. I typically have my staff write monthly reports for my benefit and their own. At the end of the year, they need only copy and paste from 12 documents and jazz it up with a little eloquent B.S. It also helps to have actually worked throughout the year on something, though not everyone in government can make this claim.

NSPS attempts to formalize good management practices within the old GS system by encouraging employees to provide not only self-assessments, but also on developing annual objectives with input from supervisors. The degree to which the employee meets these objectives should, in theory, be the basis for the employee's rating. Of course, if you are a major pain in the backside, supervisors will find flaws in your "performance" somewhere.

So is the self-assessment required?

According to DoD 1400.25-M, Subchapter 1940, SC1940.6.4., although not mandatory, employees are "strongly encouraged" - govspeak for get it done or someone will make you miserable - to provide a self-assessment to document accomplishments and help judge their own progress. However, if your supervisor asked for an assessment, it is not an unreasonable or out of scope request and by definition becomes an official task.

Under NSPS, much like in a relationship, your performance is based on what you do and how you do it. So you must first work with your supervisor to develop your performance plan. Ensure your job objectives are developed as an expression of performance expectations, which are the duties, responsibilities, and competencies, or objectives associated with your position and the contributions and demonstrated competencies management expects of you. Once you have a good set of measurable objectives, you can work towards meeting or exceeding them.

Tips for Writing the Self-assessment

Often employees have trouble with the self-assessment because they do not address each individual job objective, list accomplishments without identifying results, and/or include accomplishments outside of the rating period.

To avoid these problem, here are a few tips:

Address each objective individually
Identify each objective by title (when printed from the automated performance tool they will be alphabetical, rather than sequential in number)
Focus on results - what was the impact of your actions?
Avoid duty statements that provide no indication of impact (are not linked to a specific objective)
Provide sufficient justification for raising/lowering ratings
Complete your annual self-assessment by the last day of the rating period
Keep your reader in mind while you write
Use a bulleted style (short statements/avoid narratives)
Use hyphens (not actual bullets - the automated tool does not recognize them)
Avoid using a narrative style (solid blocks of text)
Use line breaks
Make sure grammar and spelling are correct

Here are some things not to do:

List accomplishments without reference to an objective or without describing the results achieved
Use acronyms or terms which may not be understood by others, e.g., organizational or project acronyms
Cite accomplishments which occurred in earlier rating cycles
Use language from your job description or the generic performance indicators
Assume the pay pool panel is familiar with your job
Use people's names when citing cases (e.g., adverse action cases)

Remember you have limited characters per job objective. You will have room to write 3 accomplishments with 600 characters each, or 4 accomplishments with 500 characters. Three or four good, well-written accomplishments are enough to demonstrate that you have met the job objective.

You should compose your self-assessment in Microsoft Word. Although I expect you will use the automated DCPDS Performance Appraisal tool, having your self-assessment written and saved as a Word document will allow you to copy and paste it wherever it is needed, either into the automated tool, or onto the Adobe form. The invaluable "character count" feature in Word is accessed under the Tools menu (select "Word count" - then look at the number of characters (including spaces).

A Few Final Tips

Keep records of your work
Describe your significant accomplishments for each objective
Describe the result of your contribution i.e. mission accomplishment/organizational goal achieved
Substance is more important than style, though style can help ensure you see the wording again
Describe what you did not how you did it
Self-assessments focus on objectives & results
If you never accomplished anything, describe ongoing work as if it was already completed
If you hate your supervisor, try to avoid statements like "had my supervisor allowed me to..."
If you hate your coworkers, you're probably not alone. Nonetheless, keep away from mentioning them unfavorably in your assessment

The Only,

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Dear Bureau Pat: My SF-50 states I'm Career Conditional. What does that mean?

Bureau Pat — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Dear Bureau Pat,

I was just hired into the federal government and I looked at my SF 50, Notification of Personnel Action, and it states that I'm Career Conditional. What does that mean?

Dear Newbie,

Welcome to federal service! I think you will find this experience challenging and rewarding...or at least challenging.

Understanding your tenure status is critical as most feds just glance over their SF 50 and walk blindly into their federal career only to run into pay, benefits and retention problems down the road.

To shed some needed light, the SF-50 is a permanent record in your Official Personnel Folder (OPF). It is the required form of notification for accessions, conversions, and separations, and for corrections and cancellations of those actions. The form is also used to document and report all personnel actions except mass transfer and mass change actions, which may be reported by a listing of the employees impacted. Got that? Good. The area on the form related to your question is block 24.

Block 24 identifies the nature of your appointment. This information is used to determine your rights during a reduction in force (RIF - how could it have a government name without an acronym to recall) and retention during your first year, if you are on probationary period. Employees in the Senior Executive Service (SES) and employees appointed by the President subject to Senate confirmation are coded "0," (no pun intended), as are employees who are not in one of the coded tenure groups described below.

Tenure Group 1

Competitive Service. Career employees who are not serving a probationary period.
Excepted Service. Permanent employees whose appointments carry no restriction or condition such as conditional, indefinite or specific time limitation, or trial period.

Tenure Group 2

Competitive Service. All career conditional employees, and all career employees who are serving a probationary period.
Excepted Service. Employees serving a trial period, or whose tenure is equivalent to career conditional employment in the competitive service, and employees serving under Veterans Readjustment Appointment.

Tenure Group 3

Competitive Service. All employees serving under indefinite, TAPER (temporary appointments pending establishment of registers) or term appointments, employees serving under any other non-status non-temporary appointments.
Excepted Service. Employees whose tenure is indefinite, i.e., without specific time limitation but not actually or potentially permanent, or with a specific time limitation of more than one year. Also included are temporary employees who, though currently serving under appointments limited to one year or less, complete one year of current continuous employment.

Permanent employees are generally hired into the federal government under a career-conditional appointment (tenure group 2). Much in the way a criminal must serve a multi-year sentence to be considered a hardened criminal, a career-conditional employee must complete three years of substantially continuous service before becoming a full career employee.

The three-year period must begin and end with non-temporary employment in the competitive service. Generally, substantially continuous creditable service must not include any break in service of more than 30 calendar days. If an employee does not complete the three-year period, a single break in service of more than 30 calendar days will require the employee to serve a new three-year period. (Periods of time in a nonpay status are not breaks in service and do not require the employee to begin a new three-year period. However, they may extend the service time needed for career tenure.)

Career-conditional employees automatically become career employees upon completion of this service requirement. Why does this matter? Because employees with career tenure have a higher retention standing during layoffs. That means that in the event people stage a nation-wide Boston Tea Party or the government can't borrow more money from China and Japan to pay for your service, those who are not career employees and are instead career conditional will be laid off first.

Care should be taken to distinguish the one-year probationary period from the three-year career-conditional period. The probationary period is used to determine the employee's abilities and skills required for permanent government service.

In contrast, the three-year career-conditional period is established only to measure the employee's interest in, and the Government's ability to provide, a career in the federal service. More accurately, it is simply a right of passage that affords greater advantages and protections.

A word of caution on the Probationary Period

The first year of service of an employee who is given a career-conditional appointment is considered a probationary period. The probationary period is really the final and most important step in the selection process. It affords the supervisor an opportunity to evaluate the employee's performance and conduct on the job, and to remove the person without due process, if necessary. A person who is transferred, promoted, demoted, or reassigned before completing probation is required to complete the probationary period in the new position. Prior federal civilian service counts toward completion of probation if it is in the same agency, same line of work, and without a break in service.

The Only,

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Dear Bureau Pat: If I accept military orders as a reservist, am I still covered by the USERRA?

Bureau Pat — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:27:00 GMT

Dear Bureau Pat:

I'm a federal employee and a reservist. I have not been recalled for active duty, but I accept military orders under the reserve program. Do I still fall under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)?

Dear Reservist,

You're going to like the answer but your employer won't!

First, as a federal employee, the U.S. Government provides 15 days of military leave for all reservists above and beyond sick leave and annual leave. Depending on your tenure, a government employee that performs reserve duty is provided a grand total of 54 days of leave, not including the 10 federal holidays a year. Not bad. Kinda makes you feel like feds work in France, save for the accents and attitude...OK, just the accents.

But back to your question...

Bureau Pat once supervised a reservist who volunteered for duty and was placed on official military orders. Unfortunately, he failed to tell me about it in advance and I was left scrambling to have his duties covered when he did not show up for work. I was surprised to discover that unlike with other types of leave, military leave does not have to be coordinated with the supervisor and there was nothing I could do to call him back or discipline him upon his return. However, it did cast a long shadow over our working relationship and I strongly encourage military members to keep communication open with their supervisors and give them as much advance warning as possible when going on orders.

BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front): As long as you are on official orders whether they are mandated or you volunteer, you're covered by the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) Ref: 38 U.S.C. § 4301, et. seq.

What does that mean?

The USERRA prohibits discrimination against persons because of their service in the Armed Forces Reserve, the National Guard, or other uniformed services. USERRA prohibits an employer from denying any benefit of employment on the basis of an individual's membership, application for membership, performance of service, application for service, or obligation for service in the uniformed services. USERRA also protects the right of veterans, reservists, National Guard members, and certain other members of the uniformed services to reclaim their civilian employment after being absent due to military service or training.

So who is covered?

The USERRA applies to persons who perform duty, voluntarily or involuntarily, in the "uniformed services," which include the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Public Health Service commissioned corps, as well as the reserve components of each of these services.

Uniformed service includes active duty, active duty for training, inactive duty training (such as drills), initial active duty training, and funeral honors duty performed by National Guard and reserve members, as well as the period for which a person is absent from a position of employment for the purpose of an examination to determine fitness to perform any such duty.

In fact, USERRA covers nearly all employees, including part-time and probationary employees and USERRA applies to virtually all U.S. employers, regardless of size.

Enjoy your duty and serve us well!

The Only,

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Dear Bureau Pat: Is funding for NSPS still set to expire at the end of FY09?

Bureau Pat — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 10:17:00 GMT

Dear Bureau Pat:

I'm a federal employee and I've heard a lot about the National Security Personnel System (NSPS). What is it? Will it affect me? And is it supposed to expire at the end of FY09?

Dear Hopeful,

Unfortunately, if you are one of 181,500 non-bargaining unit employees in the Department of Defense, and you're not a believer in NSPS, you're in for a real treat. But the cries and moans of the unions and other federal employees over NSPS have been heard. In fact, implementation of Max HR was blocked at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and NSPS at DoD for unionized workers. So there is hope for you yet.

Regarding your questions:

What is the National Security Personnel System (NSPS)?

NSPS is a pay-for-performance personnel system created in 2004 under authorization by Congress for the United States Department of Defense (DoD) and rushed into implementation in mid-2006. The system replaces the General Schedule (GS) grade and step system with a pay-band system intended to provide more flexibility in establishing pay levels and bonuses. As designed, it rewards those who work hard with more pay, and those who sit around reading jokes on OhMyGov! all day with less pay - we love you anyway.

NSPS has differing policies concerning tenure, hiring, reassignment, promotion, collective bargaining, pay, performance measurement and recognition, etc. Pay increases that were automatic under the GS system do not exist under NSPS.

There is a significant level of controversy as to whether or not the flexibility gained with the new system comes at the bureaucratic price of requiring significantly more effort on the part of managers to document performance and manage compensation. Translation: the review process takes FOREVER. But proponents of NSPS say this "drawback" ensures better communication between supervisor and employee and will evolve over time so as be be less cumbersome...much like Oprah.

Despite recent reports from OhMyGov! and the Government Accountability Office that state DoD must improve the implementation and address employee concerns about NSPS, the Defense Department was still able to publish the final regulations in the Federal Register last Friday. These regulations govern compensation, classification and performance management under NSPS, aligns DoD's human resources management system with the Department's critical mission requirements, and protects the civil service rights of NSPS-covered employees.

Will NSPS affect you?

Whether or not you are in the Department of Defense, pay-for-performance systems may affect you. Currently, there are several "demonstration" systems throughout government that use the pay-for-performance concept and more agencies may opt for NSPS's flexibility in the future.

Additionally, all members of the Senior Executive Service (SES) have been rated based on a pay-for-performance protocol since 2004. So if make the cut, you'll face the same pain.

Is funding supposed to expire at the end of FY09?

No, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) funded the National Security Personnel System (NSPS) for another year with the following caveat stating, "...We (Congress) intend to carefully scrutinize the final regulation when published. Should it fail to comport with the intent of Congress to restore the collective bargaining rights of DoD employees, we shall revisit the issue in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010."

However, it appears the Defense Department is dropping plans to convert employees represented by labor unions to its new personnel system, according to the program's top personnel official.

New regulations governing NSPS, which did not adequately address the compulsory changes by Congress in the fiscal 2008 Defense Authorization Act, recently drew widespread criticism from federal unions.

Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairmen of the House and Senate Armed Services committees, stated "We strongly believe that the proposed regulations go beyond the intent of the revisions made to NSPS in the [defense authorization measure] for fiscal 2008...The intent of this legislation was to restore the collective bargaining rights of DoD employees."

Currently, 270,000 white-collar Defense employees are represented by labor unions. The department has added more than 181,500 non-bargaining unit employees to NSPS since 2006 and plans to bring an additional 20,000 into the system this fall, bringing it close to converting all 205,000 non-bargaining unit employees.

An analysis of NSPS by Federal Times in August 2008 found that the January 2008 issuance of performance-based pay raises and bonuses, the first large-scale payout under the new system, was filled with inequalities. The analysis found that white employees received higher average performance ratings, salary increases and bonuses than employees of other races and ethnicities. Also, employees working at DoD agencies, such as the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, Tricare, the Office of the Inspector General and the Office of the Secretary of Defense, earned higher performance ratings and payouts overall than did their civilian counterparts in the three military service branches such as the United States Army, United States Navy, and United States Air Force. Furthermore, raises and bonuses were often inconsistent with performance ratings.

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) said that the analysis supports their concerns about the new system. "These systems can have a discriminatory impact. Whether it's intended or unintended, it happens nevertheless," said Brian DeWyngaert, AFGE Chief of Staff.

The Only,

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Dear Bureau Pat: How do I convince a country club to recycle?

Bureau Pat — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:45:00 GMT

Dear Bureau Pat:

How do I convince a country club to recycle? There is so much wasted paper, plastic bags, etc. I thought they would do it in a second if it was made easier or worthwhile...

Dear Earth Conscious Aristocrat,

When dealing with a private entity, the best approach is to pinch the purse strings - just don't try anything like that in the locker room.

If you are a paying member of this club, you have some pull beyond your rowing machines and cigar smoking. The last thing the club wants is their member(s) unhappy and walking out over something as trivial as garbage.

Call a meeting with a manager, ideally at the highest level possible. Tell him/her you are unhappy about the fact they don't recycle and would consider leaving the club over your disgust of the problem. It's a club, so you must have worked on your poker face at some point in your business dealings or around back room, smoke-filled poker tables. Use it.

Now, if you want a little better hand for the meeting, you can do some homework before you talk to anyone. The first thing to do would be to find out if there is a recycling service provider in your area. There may not be, but that is unusual these days. It depends how removed your town is from the rest of the world and how far from society your club is to keep out the riffraff.

Do a Google search and see if you find anything that resembles a recycling service in your area. Try to find out their industrial rates if possible. That will give you an idea how reluctant the club will be to spring for the new service.

Remember, some garbage services charge by weight. So if an organization recycles, the cost of the landfill-bound garbage pickups will actually decrease since some of the garbage will be redirected elsewhere. In the end, the organization may save money or pay only a nominal amount more for recycling.

If you can't find a local recycling pickup service, check to see if there is at least a recycling center in the area through this website. Sometimes, areas have no service to pick up the recycling, but do offer a place to recycle.

Once you find a place, a community can band together to find someone or a business to physically bring the recycling to the center once a week. A local environmental organization could organize volunteers to provide this service if you got your club to collect the items. Alternatively, you could pay some young staff cash tips to make the weekly runs for extra money.

Now, if you find out there is no recycling in your area at all, your job becomes bigger: trying to bring a recycling service to town. This involves some politicking and canvassing, and for that, you'll need to partner with an environmental group, religious group or union, and at least one town selectman to get involved.

Let's assume there is recycling service available and you need only get your club to pay a bit more for a weekly pickup. What do you do? Utilize the power of numbers.

The Civil Rights Movement was made possible through mass numbers. Your club is no different. The more members you get to agree with you that recycling is needed, the more likely your complaints are to be heard.

By nature, clubs are social. So get social. Talk to others and find out if they care about recycling, how much they care, and if they are willing to sign a petition to show the club you are serious. You don't need the petition, but it does show you really do care.

Most club managers will take your complaints very seriously even if you just stated "and my opinion is shared by many other members." But if you want to have a rabbit in your hat when you walk into the meeting, collect as many signatures as you can get.

Sound like too much legwork? There's an easier way. When you meet, alert the club you think they should have recycling and believe other members would feel the same. Then ask the club to survey the members to find out if you stand alone. This places the workload on them and allows you to enjoy your steam in peace, followed by a guilt-free, bottled vitamin water.

A good sales pitch never hurt anyone either, and as these days environmentalism is trendy instead of crunchy, you could pitch your club that being more eco-friendly would really help their image and public relations. Were they to green their practices with more energy-efficient lighting and appliances, recycling services, toxic-free chemicals, and by eliminating disposable products, a savvy salesperson could use the change to create a media buzz in local and state-wide publications. That could draw more members and more member loyalty. And at the end of the day, the club wants to make money. It's called natural capitalism and these days, everyone is doing it.

The Only,

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Dear Bureau Pat: An employee on my staff was activated for a one-year military deployment, what's my obligation as his employer?

Bureau Pat — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:12:00 GMT

Dear Bureau Pat:

I was just informed that a key member of my staff has been activated for a one-year military deployment. Can you please address my legal obligation to support this deployment?

Dear Patriot:

If you thought soldiers were the only ones affected by the ongoing wars, you're about to get a dose of reality. Uncle Sam just anointed you with patriotic duties.

All employers of those called to duty must allow soldiers to keep their jobs while they are deployed. That means you should start looking for a good temp, but one that's not so good or likeable that you won't be able to fire him/her upon the return of your soldier-staffer.

Not too long ago, the military deployment of an employee was a more obscure concern, but today, with increasing reliance on reservists and National Guard members among the American military troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other places, all employers (private or public) need to be prepared for an employee being called to duty. That doesn't mean you need to run shooting or combat drills in the office, it simply requires you to have a few temp staffing agencies at the ready and know your obligations.

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) is the federal statute that protects employees who take temporary leaves of absence for active or reserve duty in the uniformed services. The statute affects every employer in the United States, regardless of size, that has employees who need a leave of absence for military duty.

According to the USERRA, employers are obligated to allow employees time off to serve in the military, and are required to give that employee back that same position upon his/her return from service. The USERRA also details everything from the deployed employee's health insurance to the time limits on reemployment eligibility.

So, your legal obligation is to ensure the member meets his or her military obligation and has a job waiting upon his/her return. That means you will be without a critical staff member for this time period, but you need not pay for work not done.

Employees called to duty are allowed to either use their vacation time/personal days off for service, or they can choose to take an unpaid leave of absence. While employers are not required to pay an employee who is absent to serve in the military, some opt to continue the pay.

Citizen soldiers play a very important role in both our military and civilian worlds and you are fortunate to have one on your staff. Here are some suggestions for making the most of this situation.

Offer military employees opportunities to grow in their jobs by enhancing the training they've already received in the military - and giving them added responsibilities
Remember that you have an obligation to offer the same benefits to employees who are absent for military service as you do to those employees who are on other (non-military) leaves of absence
Take the time to get to know your military employee's military commanders and ask them to provide you with the employee's annual schedule of military duties (those that are known in advance) so you can work out any time conflicts well in advance
Do not, through your policies or your attitudes, punish or discriminate against an employee due to his military service. If there are any conflicts, resolve them as quickly and fairly as possible
Encourage your other employees to support your military employee's service and dedication to the country - the best way to do this is to model by example your OWN support.
Work with your local HR office to inquire about temporary hires or support to take your military employee's place during his deployment - this is legal, as long as you give that employee his job back once he returns from service

The citizen soldier provides many benefits to the workplace by providing additional experience and skills. Unfortunately there are times that their call to duty takes precedence over their career workplace. It's a subtle reminder that we all make sacrifices to support our military and our country.

The Only,

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