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]

Monday, November 30, 2009

USDA gets approval for employee buy outs from OPM as mega-management reorg continues

as first reported by federalnewsradio

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..."


Source: www.federalnewsradio.com

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

Monday, November 23, 2009

FEMA trailer auctions continue

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..."


Source: www.hattiesburgamerican.com

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

AFGE Lauds Proposed Expansion of Americans with Disabilities Act

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.”..."


Source: www.afge.org

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

2010 Federal Employee Per Diem Rates

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...."


Source: www.gsa.gov

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

Friday, November 20, 2009

Bill Would Ban P2P Use By Federal Employees

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. ..."


Source: www.informationweek.com/

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

Thursday, November 19, 2009

EPA Employees Silenced for Criticizing Cap and Trade

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. ..."


Source: www.foxnews.com

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

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Already under fire, long-term-care insurer sends bad data to workers

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. ..."


Source: www.washingtonpost.com

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

Monday, November 16, 2009

Obama to encourage federal hiring of veterans

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...."


Source: www.philly.com

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

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

2011 Locality Pay Recommendations

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...."


Source: www.opm.gov

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

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Federal Court Rules VA Employees Owed Years Worth of Back Pay

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...."


Source: www.afge.org

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

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Ready for Christmas? Print your free Santa Letter and North Pole Postmark

Free for Federal Employees ...and anyone else!
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.


Source: northpolepostmark.blogspot.com

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

Open Season Begins November 9, 2009

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..."


Source: www.opm.gov

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

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

TSP: Rates of Return for October 2009

TSP: Rates of Return for October 2009

October, being Halloween, most of the TSP funds took a scary ride down, with the exception of the 'G' Fund and the 'F' Fund. However, if you were able to hang on for that scary ride and followed the concept of Dollar Cost Averaging, you did well for the year-to-date. Looking at the big picture, the past twelve months provided a healthy return of over 24% for those willing to make the often risky investment in the International Fund. The 'S' Fund trailed in the year-to-date category at over 21%.


Read more here

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Friday, October 30, 2009

National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE)

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 ..."


Source: www.narfe.org

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

American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)

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. ..."


Source: www.afge.org

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

Senior Executives Association

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. ..."


Source: www.seniorexecs.org

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

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Should Rules for All Include Congress?

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...."


Source: prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com

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

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Federal Benefits Open Season 2010

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: ..."


Source: www.opm.gov

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

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Congress passes bill that offers flurry of new benefits to feds

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. ..."


Source: www.federaltimes.com

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

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Eye Opener: Federal Retirees to Get $250?

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...."


Source: washingtonpost.com

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

Monday, October 19, 2009

Federal Employee Health Care Premiums to Rise Sharply

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..."


Source: www.federaltimes.com

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

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

FERS Sick-Leave Credit Included In Defense Authorization Bill

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.”..."


Source: www.apwu.org

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

Thursday, October 8, 2009

2009 Federal Benefits Open Season: FEDVIP and FEHB Program Significant Plan Changes

Article Title: 2009 Federal Benefits Open Season: FEDVIP and FEHB Program Significant Plan Changes
Snippet of Article: "...This year’s Federal Benefits Open Season will run from Monday, November 9, through Monday, December 14, 2009...."

Source: www.opm.gov

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