The Foreign Service Journal, September 2006

Promotions: Reinforcing the integrity, fairness, and number of opportunities in our performance-based promotion system is a top priority for ourmembership. Employees feel that their pro- motions are too dependent on their supervisor’s EER-writing abil- ities, andmany (particularlyDRI entrants) are apprehensive about the overall shrinkage in promotion numbers, which seems to be leavingmore people at the same grade longer—six to eight years or more — before getting promoted. It is important that you: Fight for more resources to expand the promotion num- bers Seek ways to significantly reduce the unrealistically high mandatory 5-percent low-ranking Unaccompanied tours of duty: At a time when the Department needs tomotivate our colleagues to volunteer for the nearly 700 unaccompanied positions every summer—more than 20 percent of overseas assignments—AFSA believes wemust do more to accommodate family concerns. Our members serving in war zones are keenly aware of the disparities between DOD’s treatment of military families and our own. Some important actions you can take include: Increasing the woefully inadequate Separate Maintenance Allowance Facilitating use of home leave during or after 12-monthunac- companied tours Expanding the Department’s outreach and support to sep- arated family members Members of Household: Our surveys have revealed wide- spread dissatisfactionwith the Department’s unwillingness to rec- ognize unmarried partners on the same terms as spouses. We believe that the Department is applying the Defense of Marriage Act far beyond its legal scope and see considerable room for improvement and flexibility in how MOHs are treated without violating the DMA. AFSA has been working with GLIFAA to develop a series of specific recommendations to address this prob- lem, even if some require challenging the current legal constraints. These include: Funding travel to/from post for MOHs Changing the Foreign Affairs Manual to require Chiefs of Mission to extend the same benefits to MOHs as spouses According MOHs the same within-mission employment opportunities as spouses Including MOHs in post evacuation plans DiplomaticSecurity: WhileUnder Secretary forManagement Fore appears to be pressingDS to expedite the resolution of long- stalled cases of members whose security clearances have been in limbo for as much as 2-3 years, we face a growing feeling among Foreign Service employees that there should be greater transparen- cy and accountability inmany of the programs run byDS, includ- ing the investigation/adjudication processes for security clearances as well as the DS “pass through” program for assignment to crit- ical-threat posts. People fear that too much power is vested in DS as the investigator, prosecutor, judge and jury in security clear- ance cases. There is also concern about the lack of transparency when it comes to DS’s recommendations against an employee’s assignment to a critical-threat post. First steps might include: Creating a task force, includingAFSA, to developnewguide- lines for security investigations/adjudications/and assignment recommendations Assigning employees who have lost their clearances, where appropriate and feasible, to positions that do not require a Top Secret clearance and devising meaningful work responsibilities for them. Maternity benefits overseas: While we understand the need toworkwithin existing federal governmentwide laws, AFSAbelieves that the unique conditions of the Foreign Service require special rules/benefits for female FS employees postedoverseaswhobecome pregnant. Formany, the three-monthmedical evacuationman- dated byM/MEDbecomes a severe hardship because the employ- eemust use her own leave and then is forced to go on leave with- out pay when her accumulated annual/sick leave runs out. This is particularly unfair for female employees who have only a small accumulated leave balance andwhomay be the sole income-earn- er in the family. This situation cries out for urgent measures, such as: Granting the employee administrative leave during her three- month medical evacuation Authorizing travel for husbands who are dependent spouses Contact reporting requirements: HR and DS foreign con- tact reporting rules are grossly outdated, unclear, and sometimes contradictory. Despite many significant changes over the years, these sections of the FAM have not been revised in 19 years. As a result, many FS employees have been curtailed from post, had their clearances suspended and are facing discipline due to alleged violations of contact reporting requirements. AFSA lawyers have received contradictory information on whether certain contacts need to be reported, so ourmembers are understandably confused. We ask that the Department work with AFSA to: Immediately update and clarify 3 FAM 4100 and 12 FAM 260 Overseas housing: Our members at foreign posts suffer as a result of 1960s-era regulations that require any overseas housing lease over $25,000 (a figure that has not been changed in 30 years) annually to receive Washington approval and that impose arbi- trary limits of the square footage of overseas housing. We urge you to: Change the rules in order to liberalize these antiquated hous- ing requirements A F S A N E W S S E P T EMB E R 2 0 0 6 / F OR E I GN S E R V I C E J OU R N A L 71 Continued on page 72