Article Title: USDA gets approval for employee buy outs from OPM as mega-management reorg continues
Snippet of Article: "...Employees selecting the VSIP option are eligible for a lump sum payment of $25,000 (gross) or an amount equal to the employee’s computed severance pay, whichever is less. Since the VSIP is limited to retirement eligibles..."
Article Title: FEMA trailer auctions continue
Snippet of Article: "...Federal Emergency Management Agency officials had estimated that heading into the fall, about 30,000 trailers remained at five, Pine Belt staging areas..."
Article Title: AFGE Lauds Proposed Expansion of Americans with Disabilities Act
Snippet of Article: "...too frequently federal government employees with the aforementioned impairments have been burdened with establishing that these conditions substantially limit a major life activity. Many failed to meet this requirement and subsequently were denied a reasonable accommodation and/or their day in court.”..."
Article Title: 2010 Federal Employee Per Diem Rates
Snippet of Article: "...The FY 2010 federal per diem rates have been released. Rates are set by fiscal year, effective October 1. To look up rates throughout the continental United States (CONUS), select a year and click on a state...."
Article Title: Bill Would Ban P2P Use By Federal Employees
Snippet of Article: "...The risks of file sharing over P2P resurfaced last month when a source provided the Washington Post with a confidential House ethics committee report that had been exposed on a P2P network by a staffer who has since been fired. ..."
Article Title: EPA Employees Silenced for Criticizing Cap and Trade
Snippet of Article: "...Their bosses in San Francisco approved the effort by Williams and Zabel to release the tape, but after an editorial they wrote appeared in the Washington Post, EPA Director Lisa Jackson ordered the pair to remove the video or face disciplinary action. Specifically, the administration's chief environmental official did not want Williams or Zabel mentioning their four decades with the EPA -- time spent studying cap and trade. ..."
Article Title: Already under fire, long-term-care insurer sends bad data to workers
Snippet of Article: "...long-term-care program for federal employees has mailed out more than 70,000 forms with mistakes about potential premiums, and as a result, it is pushing back the selection deadline for those workers to March 15, 2010. ..."
Article Title: Obama to encourage federal hiring of veterans
Snippet of Article: "...President Barack Obama was to sign an executive order Monday creating the Veterans Employment Initiative. The program will underscore for federal agencies the importance of recruiting and training military veterans...."
Article Title: Level of Comparability Payments for January 2011 and Other Matters Pertaining to the Locality Pay Program
Information on Federal Pay and Leave
Snippet of Article: "...As authorized by the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act of 1990 (FEPCA), we present our recommendations for the establishment or modification of pay localities, the coverage of salary surveys conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for use in the locality pay program, the process of comparing General Schedule (GS) pay to non-Federal pay, and the level of comparability payments for January 2011...."
Article Title: Federal Court Rules VA Employees Owed Years Worth of Back Pay
Snippet of Article: "...The Federal Court in Washington, D.C. decided that the VA violated federal pay statutes by not including premium pay when employees used “paid leave” and therefore, these employees are eligible for “substantial” back pay and interest...."
Article Title: Print your free Santa Letter and North Pole Postmark
About: Christmas is just around the corner. Take a look at the northpolepostmark.blogspot.com and get your free North Pole Postmark and a Letter from Santa.
Article Title: Federal Benefits Open Season
Snippet of Article: "...The opportunity for you to choose health, dental, and vision insurance coverage for 2010, and whether contributing to a health and/or dependent care flexible spending account flexible spending account will save you money by using pre-tax contributions to pay your out-of-pocket costs. You should review your options..."
Article Title: National Active and
Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE)
Snippet of Article: "... NARFE is an advocate for both active and retired federal employees before Congress and the White House. Our mission is to safeguard and enhance federal employee health benefits, retirement benefits, and pay issues for active federal employees and annuitants ..."
Article Title: American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)
Snippet of Article: "... the largest federal employee union representing 600,000 federal and D.C. government workers nationwide and overseas. Workers in virtually all functions of government at every federal agency depend upon AFGE for legal representation, legislative advocacy, technical expertise and informational services.
The union is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and divided into 12 geographical districts consisting of some 1,100 Locals. Over one-half of AFGE's members are consolidated into agency-wide bargaining units. Agencies with the highest concentration of union membership include the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Social Security Administration and the Department of Justice. ..."
Article Title: Senior Executives Association
Snippet of Article: "... The Senior Executives Association is a nonprofit professional association that promotes ethical and dynamic public service by fostering an outstanding career executive corps, advocates the interests of career federal executives (both active and retired), and provides information and services to SEA members. ..."
Article Title: Should Rules for All Include Congress?
Snippet of Article: "...Congress is covered now by the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, the same plan that covers eight million other federal workers, retirees and their families...."
Article Title: Federal Benefits Open Season
Snippet of Article: "...the 2010 Federal Benefits Open Season.
This year’s Open Season will run from November 9 through December 14, 2009. ... The opportunity for you to choose health, dental, and vision insurance coverage for 2010, and whether contributing to a health and/or dependent care flexible spending account will save you money by using pre-tax contributions to pay your out-of-pocket costs. You should review your options for the following programs: ..."
Article Title: Congress passes bill that offers flurry of new benefits to feds
Snippet of Article: "...This would add three months to the average FERS employee’s time in service when his retirement annuity is calculated, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates. That would increase retirement checks by an average of $150 each year, CBO said. ..."
Article Title: Eye Opener: Federal Retirees to Get $250?
Snippet of Article: "...Federal employees ineligible to receive Social Security benefits would still get a one-time $250 payment next year if President Obama gets his way...."
Article Title: What OPM isn’t doing to contain health rates
Snippet of Article: "...the Office of Personnel Management announced last month that health care premiums for federal employees and retirees were jumping 7.4 percent on average..."
Article Title: FERS Sick-Leave Credit Included In Defense Authorization Bill
Snippet of Article: "...The compromise legislation also includes a provision that would make it easier for federal agencies, including the Postal Service, to rehire retirees (for a limited time) without forcing them to take a cut in their annuity checks. “This provision will help eliminate the USPS objections to APWU’s efforts to return postal retirees to employment,” Burrus said. “If the bill is passed, the union will renew our discussion with management on this issue.”..."
Article Title: CRS — The Federal Protective Service and Contract Security Guards: A Statutory History and Current Status
Snippet of Article: "...Federal Protective Service (FPS)—within U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)—is responsible for protecting federal government property,..."
Article Title: Locality Pay Areas
Snippet of Article: "...Under 5 U.S.C. 5304(e)(2)(A), the Federal Salary Council made a recommendation to the Pay Agent on the composition of locality pay areas for 2010. This recommendation was transmitted to the Pay Agent in a memorandum dated October 14, 2008...."
Article Title: Federal pay likely to be next hot topic for Congress
Snippet of Article: "...The president thinks the tough economic times require a more conservative approach to the 2010 raise, but most employees feel pretty comfortable with the work that has been put in and feel the larger raise would be money well spent...."
Article Title: Federal Employees Health Benefits Threatened
Snippet of Article: "...the amendment that would boot all federal employees, including members of Congress, as well as federal retirees from their current health insurance plans beginning in 2013. For now, it appears that feds have dodged a bullet as the amendment was modified to eliminate the word “require”..."
Article Title: Federal Employee Pleads Guilty in Identity Theft Fraud Scheme
Snippet of Article: "...used her government-issued computer to obtain online payday loans using personal identification information of sentenced defendants obtained through her employment. Wallace admitted that she illegally gained approximately $34,435 in total through her fraudulent scheme.
..."
Article Title: Cybersecurity Plan Doesn't Breach Employee Privacy, Administration Says
Snippet of Article: "...By notifying government employees logging on to their computers that they have "no reasonable expectation of privacy" while using the network, the government's Einstein 2 program is lawful, according to an Aug. 14 Justice Department memo that was released Friday. That applies to a private citizen who, say, sends an e-mail to a government employee -- even to the employee's private account if he or she opens it at work, wrote David J. Barron, acting assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel. ..."
Article Title: Health Coverage Not Universal For Federal Workforce
Snippet of Article: "...But one overlooked aspect of the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program is that many federal workers go without health insurance for themselves or members of their families. ..."
Article Title: How to Win Federal Contracts
Snippet of Article: "...The U.S. Small Business Administration today launched a new online training course to help strengthen access to contracting opportunities for small businesses, including those owned by women, minorities, disadvantaged individuals and veterans...."
Article Title: A federal hiring spree? When? Where?
Snippet of Article: "...You might be thinking, "If there are 35 agencies that are hiring, who is going to hire the most? Where is my best chance at employment?" The top three agencies that will be hiring the largest number of employees will be the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense...."
Article Title: Special Retirement Supplement (FERS Supplement)
Snippet of Article: "...If you transfer to FERS and you have at least 1 calendar year (January 1 to December 31) of FERS service when you retire, you will be eligible for the Special Retirement Supplement. The special retirement supplement (also known as the FERS supplement) is unique to FERS. It substitutes for the Social Security part of your total FERS benefit until age 62, when most people become eligible for Social Security. The purpose of the supplement is to provide a level of income before age 62 similar to what you will receive at age 62 as part of a Social Security benefit. The supplement stops at age 62 even if you are not eligible for Social Security. Like Social Security benefits, the supplement is subject to an earnings test, which means the supplement is reduced if your income from earnings or self-employment is higher than an allowable amount...."
Article Title: Time running out on NSPS, sick leave, postal rescue bills
Snippet of Article: "...Provide a raise to federal employees. Likely, it will be 2.0 percent, not the 2.9 percent raise that President Barack Obama proposed for the military or the 3.4 percent raise that Congress is poised to approve for the military. Last week, Obama reiterated his call for a 2 percent pay raise for federal employees in January 2010. Now it appears likely Congress will support that. ..."
Article Title: Worker Status Checks to Start
Snippet of Article: "...Agencies across the federal government on Tuesday will start ordering contractors to use an electronic system to verify whether their employees are eligible to work in the U.S. The sweeping new mandate, crafted by the Bush White House but being implemented by the Obama administration..."
Article Title: If you want an IT job, the U.S. is hiring -- big time
Snippet of Article: "...The U.S. government needs to hire more than 11,500 IT professionals over the next three years to fill critical technology jobs, many of which will be left by retiring Baby Boomers. That's according to a new study, completed with the help of federal agencies, that looks at the ages of workers and projects turnover...."
Reference: The White House: August 31, 2009 - TEXT OF A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT TO THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
Additional References:
Cornell University Law School
Article Title: Obama Cuts 2010 Pay Increase for Federal Employees to 2 Percent
Snippet of Article: "...Obama reduced next year’s pay increase for federal employees to 2 percent from 2.4 percent because of an ongoing “national emergency” and..."
The Democratic Plan to Stop Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in 2024 Snippet of Article: "Democrats and the Biden campaign, after months...
