News for the federal worker and those interested in official news of the federal government, federal civilian service employees and civil servants. Various federal news articles with reference citations.
Snippet of Article: "...In December, Obama assured Congress that pay parity between military members and federal civilians would be included in the fiscal 2011 budget proposal, so it's likely that the proposed civilian raise will also be 1.4 percent...."
Snippet of Article: "...It is therefore the policy of the United States that Federal agencies shall increase energy efficiency; measure, report, and reduce..."
Article Title: Pharmacy benefit managers and the rising drug costs for federal workers
Snippet of Article: "...When Uncle Sam arranges prescription drug coverage for millions of federal employees and their dependents, you'd expect him to have enough muscle to keep those prices low. So how come the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program pays up to 45 percent more..."
Article Title: CSRS and annuities
Snippet of Article: "...Q: I’m under the Civil Service Retirement System plan. I would like to know if the retirement contributions, taken out of our checks every payday..."
Article Title: TSA Officers Among Lowest Paid Of Federal Workers
Snippet of Article: "...Then there are the salaries, which start at about $25,000 a year, one of the lowest rates in the federal government. Anthony Hutchinson, a 29-year-old father of two, says not only is it not easy raising a family on what he earns, but it also affects what he sees as the mission of transportation security officers...."
Article Title: Obama to seek 3-year freeze on US domestic spending
Snippet of Article: "...Part of the problem, on top of a severe recession that hit government revenue, are entitlement programs like social security and Medicare, the huge public healthcare program for older Americans...."
Article Title: Restrictive federal laws penalize...
Snippet of Article: "...Legislation to repeal the GPO and WEP has been stalled for nearly three decades. Delays are a fact of life in politics, but it is time to move these bills out of committee. The corrective legislation, House Bill 235 and Senate Bill 484..."
Article Title: New OPM Veteran Site- Feds Hire Vets
Snippet of Article: "...Office of Personnel Management’s Government-wide Veterans Employment Website. This website is a critical component of the Federal Government’s strategy for the recruitment and employment of Veterans.
On November 9, 2009, President Barack Obama signed Executive Order 13518, Employment of Veterans in the Federal Government, ..."
Article Title: Obama’s EEOC Nominee: Society Should ‘Not Tolerate Private Beliefs’ That ‘Adversely Affect’ Homosexuals
Snippet of Article: "...Feldblum does recognize that elements of the homosexual agenda may infringe on Americans’ religious liberties. However, Feldblum argues that society should “come down on the side” of homosexual equality at the expense of religious liberty...."
Article Title: Should You Elect a Survivor Benefit for Your Spouse?
Snippet of Article: "...This article will provide general information on survivor benefits. A follow-up article will take a look at the question "Should I elect a survivor benefit or not?"..."
Article Title: Retiring early without penalty
Snippet of Article: "...Q: a federal employee covered under the Federal Employees Retirement System, and at age 49 will have just over 30 years of service with my military time that I bought back. Can I retire without penalty by postponing or deferring my annuity until my minimum retirement age of 56 years and 2 months,..."
Article Title: The 'Cadillac' compromise
Snippet of Article: "...the issue of taxing “Cadillac” insurance plans, giving unionized workers far more time to adjust to the new tax than nonunion employees. ..."
Article Title: Federal employee donations fell in 2009
Snippet of Article: "...2009 Combined Federal Campaign — including those in Europe — appear to be down from the previous year, but officials with the government-endorsed charity drive caution..."
Article Title: Labor Leaders Oppose Obama's 'Cadillac' Healthcare Tax
Snippet of Article: "...footing this new tax burden would be the very middle-class families the president promised would not see a tax increase. “Middle class families are going to pay...."
Article Title: Plans approved for DoD complex, Coast Guard headquarters
Snippet of Article: "...The National Capital Planning Commission approved final site and building plans for two major building projects: a new Pentagon administrative complex for more than 6,400 civilian, military and contract employees, and a new Coast Guard headquarters for more than 3,800 employees...."
Article Title: Take a Look at USAJOBS
Snippet of Article: "...Provide for yourself and help change our country with
a career in the U.S. Government!..."
Article Title: Cost-of-living increases
Snippet of Article: "...former U.S. senators and representatives continue to receive generous federal pensions while they are serving time for assorted crimes. That's insulting enough, but the report went on to say that these disgraced public servants will automatically be extended cost-of-living increases next year.
..."
Article Title: Locality-Based Comparability Payments and Pay Increases in 2010 for General Schedule Employees (PDF)
Source: www.opm.gov
Article Title: Congress is Cleaning Up the Contracting Out Mess; However, Much Still Depends on Executive Branch Compliance
Snippet of Article: "...wholesale privatization effort, lawmakers repeatedly borrowed language and principles from a comprehensive contracting out reform bill introduced earlier this year—the Correction of Longstanding Errors in Agencies’ Unsustainable Procurements (CLEAN UP) Act (S. 924, H.R. 2736) that was introduced by Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Representative John Sarbanes (D-MD)...."
Article Title: Man accused of impersonating federal agent is arrested
Snippet of Article: "...CORPUS CHRISTI — Nueces County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a Kingsville man Monday on a felony warrant accusing him of impersonating a peace officer in an incident that led to a motorist’s brief arrest...."
Article Title: TSA Withdraws Subpoenas Against Bloggers
Snippet of Article: "...In the wake of public outcry against the Transportation Security Administration for serving civil subpoenas on two bloggers, the government agency has canceled the legal action and apologized for the strong-arm tactics agents used...."
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. ..."
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...."
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..."
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. ..."
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..."
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]
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.
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. ..."
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...."
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.
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...."
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...."
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...."
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...."
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...."
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...."
The Democratic Plan to Stop Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in 2024 Snippet of Article: "Democrats and the Biden campaign, after months...
