FederalDaily - November 29, 2005
Court Date Set for NSPS
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has set Jan. 24, 2006,
as the hearing date for an American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)-led
lawsuit against new Department of Defense (DoD) work rules, called the National
Security Personnel System (NSPS). Further, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan assured
an expeditious determination the merits of the case, according to AFGE. AFGE,
together with the Metal Trades Department, AFL-CIO, the United Power Trades
Organization, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers,
the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the International Association of
Fire Fighters, the Association of Civilian Technicians, the Laborers International
Union, the National Association of Government Employees and the National Federation
of Federal Employees filed the lawsuit against the DoD on Nov. 7.
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SBA Lawyer Fired for E-mail
On Nov. 28 the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) announced that in California
a lawyer for the Small Business Administration (SBA) has been ordered to be
fired from his job due to extensive use of government resources, including
widespread use of e-mail while on government time, to engage in political activity
in furtherance of his position with a political party. According to OSC, the
Merit Systems Protection Board granted OSC’s petition for disciplinary
action and ordered the removal from federal service of SBA attorney Jeffrey
Eisinger for having engaged in partisan political activity while on duty. The
MSPB judge found that, over a three-year period, Eisinger, an elected official
of the California Green Party, received, read, drafted or sent more than 100
e-mails through his government computer that were directed toward the success
of the Green Party.
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OMB Advises Agencies on Issuing Guidance
Federal agencies issuing guidance documents to the public just received advice
on improving the transparency, quality and consistency of guidance documents
from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). On Nov. 23 OMB issued a bulletin
of proposed “good guidance practices.” Under the proposal, the
following would be required:
- approval of significant guidance documents by senior agency
officials;
- standard elements for significant guidance documents, such
as identifying the issuing office and who is affected;
- transparency, including disclosure to the public of significant
guidance documents;
- procedures allowing the public to request the creation or
modification of significant guidance documents; and
- a presumption for notice and comment for economically significant
guidance documents that could lead to a $100 million impact
on the economy.
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DoD Surveys Personnel on Post-Government Employment
The Department of Defense (DoD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) announced
earlier this month that it is surveying senior military and civilian personnel
and the acquisition work force to determine their awareness and attitudes concerning
restrictions on post-government service employment. The OIG said survey results
will help DoD leadership better understand how DoD senior personnel and the
acquisition work force become aware of post-government service restrictions,
how they view their accountability for complying with the restrictions, and
where they go for advice. The Ethics Resource Center, an independent, nonprofit
organization based in Washington, D.C., will administer an anonymous, Web-based
survey to all senior military and civilian personnel and a sample of acquisition
work force personnel, randomly selected by DoD. No one within DoD will have
access to individual responses.
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