Wednesday, December 30, 2009

EEOC Holds that Employees Cannot Be Discriminated Against Due to Perceived Limitations of a Disability

Article Title: EEOC Holds that Employees Cannot Be Discriminated Against Due to Perceived Limitations of a Disability
Snippet of Article: "...cannot discriminate against disabled employees based on subjective opinions of their limitations and abilities. Federal Employers need clear evidence, in the form of an individualized assessment, that a disabled employee cannot meet specific job requirements due to said disability. ..."


Source: www.fedsmith.com

[tag]Federal,Government,Military,Retiree, [/tag]

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Federal Scholarship Program Benefits Employee Nominees

Article Title: Federal Scholarship Program Benefits Employee Nominees
Snippet of Article: "...FEEA sponsors the only scholarship competition program open exclusively to federal employees, their spouses, and their children — rewarding hard work and service through this merit-based program. Awards range from $500 to $2,000 for one year. FEEA also administers a number of special scholarships. Students can win up to $7,500 by stacking special scholarships on top of FEEA’s signature scholarship...."


Source: liteblue.usps.gov

[tag]Federal,Government,Military,Retiree, [/tag]

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Pentagon sees big savings in replacing contractors with federal employees

Article Title: Pentagon sees big savings in replacing contractors with federal employees
Snippet of Article: "...The Defense Department estimates it will save an average of $44,000 a year for every contractor it replaces with full-time federal personnel to perform critical defense jobs..."


Source: www.washingtonpost.com

[tag]Federal,Government,Military,Retiree, [/tag]

Monday, December 21, 2009

Unions Slam Proposed "Cadillac" Health Care Tax

Article Title: Unions Slam Proposed "Cadillac" Health Care Tax
Snippet of Article: "...after three years, according to labor unions, the most popular FEHBP plan, a Blue Cross/Blue Shield Standard plan, would be subject to the Senate Democrats' proposed 40 percent tax on high-premium insurance plans. The tax on so-called "Cadillac" plans is a key provision in the Senate bill that is expected to be a large revenue raiser. ..."


Source: www.cbsnews.com

[tag]Federal,Government,Military,Retiree, [/tag]

Contracting cost cuts on target, OMB says

Article Title: Contracting cost cuts on target, OMB says
Snippet of Article: "...Federal agencies are almost halfway toward reaching a two-year goal set by President Obama this year, with plans to save roughly $19 billion in government contracting costs..."


Source: www.washingtonpost.com

[tag]Federal,Government,Military,Retiree, [/tag]

OPM: Federal agencies in the Washington, DC, area are CLOSED

Article Title: Federal agencies in the Washington, DC, area are CLOSED
Due to weather conditions, Federal agencies in the Washington, DC, area are closed. This message applies only to Monday, December 21, 2009. This Means Federal agencies in the Washington, DC, area are closed. Non-emergency employees (including employees on pre-approved leave) will be granted excused absence for the number of hours they were scheduled to work. This does not apply to employees on leave without pay, leave without pay for military duty, workers' compensation, suspension, or in another nonpay status. Telework employees may be expected to work from their telework sites, as specified in their telework agreements. Emergency employees are expected to report for work on time. Employees on alternative work schedules are not entitled to another AWS day off in lieu of the workday on which the agency is closed. [Reference: Posted on December 20, 2009 at 4:35 PM on OPM.gov]


Source:

[tag]Federal,Government,Military,Retiree, [/tag]

Information on Federal Pay and Leave

Article Title: Information on Federal Pay and Leave
Visit the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's Compensation Administration for valuable information on the Federal Wage System, Leave Administration, Federal Salary Council, Compensation Policy Memoranda (CPM), Nonforeign Area Cost-of-Living Allowances, Recruitment, Relocation, and Retention Incentives,and Human Resources Flexibilities and Authorities in the Federal Government. Additionally, you can get leave forms and more information on a pay and leave subjects. This is an excellent Federal Employee informational resource.


Source: www.opm.gov

[tag]Federal,Government,Military,Retiree, [/tag]

Friday, December 18, 2009

Was Secret TSA Screening Manual Posted Online By a Temp?

Article Title: Was Secret TSA Screening Manual Posted Online By a Temp?
Snippet of Article: "...The Transportation Security Administration's secret airport screening manual may have been posted online by a government contract employee or even a temp – and once it had happened, someone tried to black out evidence that it was secret. ..."


Source: www.abcnews.go.com

[tag]Federal,Government,Military,Retiree, [/tag]

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Grassley says report on taxes owed by federal workers is “offensive”

Article Title: Grassley says report on taxes owed by federal workers is “offensive”
Snippet of Article: "...Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he’s taking immediate action after a federal report released Monday found many thousands of federal workers combined owe more than three-billion dollars in income taxes from 2008...."


Source: www.radioiowa.com

[tag]Federal,Government,Military,Retiree, [/tag]

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Executive Order -- Half-Day Closing of Executive Departments and Agencies on Thursday, December 24, 2009

Article Title: Executive Order -- Half-Day Closing of Executive Departments and Agencies on Thursday, December 24, 2009
The Executive Order:


The White House

Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
December 11, 2009
Executive Order -- Half-Day Closing of Executive Departments and Agencies on Thursday, December 24, 2009

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. All executive branch departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall be closed and their employees excused from duty for the last half of the scheduled workday on Thursday, December 24, 2009, the day before Christmas Day, except as provided in section 2 of this order.

Sec. 2. The heads of executive branch departments and agencies may determine that certain offices and installations of their organizations, or parts thereof, must remain open and that certain employees must remain on duty for the full scheduled workday on December 24, 2009, for reasons of national security, defense, or other public need.

Sec. 3. Thursday, December 24, 2009, shall be considered as falling within the scope of Executive Order 11582 of February 11, 1971, and of 5 U.S.C. 5546 and 6103(b) and other similar statutes insofar as they relate to the pay and leave of employees of the United States.

Sec. 4. This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

BARACK OBAMA

THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 11, 2009.



Source: www.whitehouse.gov

[tag]Federal,Government,Military,Retiree, [/tag]

Monday, December 14, 2009

Executive Order Creating Labor-Management Forums to Improve Delivery of Government Services

Article Title: Executive Order Creating Labor-Management Forums to Improve Delivery of Government Services
Snippet of Article: "...Executive Order Creating Labor-Management Forums to Improve Delivery of Government Services signals a new day for collaboration and cooperation within government. By directing all agencies to sit down with their elected labor representatives, we are restarting a collaborative process begun under the Clinton administration that yielded concrete improvements in agency performance...."


Source: www.opm.gov

[tag]Federal,Government,Military,Retiree, [/tag]

Sunday, December 13, 2009

2010 Federal Employee Pay raise and Locality Pay Increase

Article Title: 2% pay hike includes 0.5% locality raise
Snippet of Article: "...Congress last week defied President Barack Obama's call to forego locality pay increases in 2010. All federal employees under the General Schedule will receive a 1.5 percent raise in January, plus a small locality raise that will average 0.5 percent...."


Source: www.federaltimes.com

[tag]Federal,Government,Military,Retiree, [/tag]

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

APWU, Other Federal Unions Assail Senate Bill’s Excise Tax on Healthcare

Article Title: APWU, Other Federal Unions Assail Senate Bill’s Excise Tax on Healthcare
Snippet of Article: "...“This tax would result in huge benefit cuts, and increased co-pays and deductibles for federal and postal employees,” Burrus said. “It is absolutely the wrong way to pay for this legislation. Health insurance reform simply should not be financed by burdening workers and the middle class with an excise tax.”

The two reports conclude that the “average” plans would try to avoid the excise tax, and would shift costs to employees.

One report [PDF] found that Blue Cross/Blue Shield Standard plans, which cover nearly half of all federal employees, will result in an excise tax on family plans of more than $20,000 per worker over the first 10 years, or about $2,000 a year. For individual plans, it would be about $1,600 additional each year...."


Source: www.apwu.org

[tag]Federal,Government,Military,Retiree, [/tag]

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Obama Again Blocks Pay Increases For US Federal Employees

Article Title: Obama Again Blocks Pay Increases For US Federal Employees
Snippet of Article: "...Under the law, U.S. federal employees covered by a "locality pay" system would see an average pay increase of about 18.9%. But in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), Obama rejected such a rise in locality pay--which certain federal employees receive in addition to their base salary...."


Source: www.nasdaq.com

[tag]Federal,Government,Military,Retiree, [/tag]

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Feds ‘Pinged’ Sprint GPS Data 8 Million Times Over a Year

Article Title: Feds ‘Pinged’ Sprint GPS Data 8 Million Times Over a Year
Snippet of Article: "...information about the data requests and portal comes from Paul Taylor, manager of Sprint’s Electronic Surveillance Team. He made the revelations at the Intelligent Support Systems (ISS) conference, a surveillance industry gathering for law enforcement and intelligence agencies and the companies that provide them with the technologies and capabilities to conduct surveillance...."


Source: www.wired.com

[tag]Federal,Government,Military,Retiree, [/tag]