Brookings Paper Calls For USPS Breakup
October 5, 2015
Is the United States Postal Service hampered by its constitutionally declared and much assumed mission to deliver mail to places near and far in the U.S., no matter what it takes or costs? According to a Brooking Institution (.pdf) white paper, that universal mandate must be reevaluated and the agency should no longer be under […]
Bill Aims to Curtail Criminal Background Checks in Fed Workforce
October 5, 2015
A proposed law would revamp the federal workforce criminal background check system. Dubbed the Fair Chance Act, the proposal would ban the federal government, including federal contractors and federal agencies, from requesting or asking for the criminal history of some applicants until after the applicant receives a conditional offer for employment. “Empowering people with records […]
OPM Revamping Fed Healthcare
September 22, 2015
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management is revamping the Federal Employees Health Benefits program. According to a notice published in the Federal Register on September 17, federal workers will be able to select a “self plus one” healthcare plan. Currently, federal workers can only choose between two plans: individual and family. The “self plus one” […]
Pension Contribution Hike is Unlikely, But It’s Still a Wait-and-See Game
September 21, 2015
Will you be forced to contribute more money to your federal government pension? As always, that’s up to Congress. A House budget bill earlier this year suggested federal workers should pay 6.6 percent of their salary to the Federal Employees Retirement System — the fund where all federal employee pension contributions is funneled into to […]
Free Credit Protection Services for Workers Affected by Latest Hack
September 21, 2015
An influential Senate panel approved a key amendment that would help protect federal workers and contractors whose sensitive personal and financial data were poached by hackers, which could be used for malicious and fraudulent purposes. The Senate Appropriations Committee adopted an amendment that will be folded into a massive government funding bill — the Financial […]
OPM Moves to Ensure Fair Pay in Federal Workforce
September 21, 2015
Federal pay is under the microscope again — this time for whether agencies are offering fair salaries to workers. To try to make sure new workers are fairly paid, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) recently issued a memo advising agencies to avoid placing too much emphasis on a prospective worker’s past salary history […]
2016 Federal Pay Raise Becoming More Likely
September 21, 2015
A 2016 pay raise for federal workers cleared another key hurdle recently. A powerful and influential Senate appropriations committee declined to insert any language addressing federal workers’ pay into a major government spending bill for next fiscal year. That means Senate lawmakers have taken a pass at denying President Obama’s stated intention to raise fed […]
TSP Wants to Compete More with IRAs
August 12, 2015
The agency that administers the Thrift Savings Plan is hoping Congress goes along with its plan to lift multiple withdrawal restrictions imposed on TSP investors and to increase the number of investment options offered beyond the current limited number of TSP investment funds. The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board has asked Congress to pass legislation […]
Federal Employees Association Calls Out Congress: “TSP Belongs to Plan’s Participants”
July 27, 2015
An association that represents active and retired federal workers has admonished Congress for a plan that would divert money from a Thrift Savings Plan investment fund to pay for the government’s Highway Trust Fund. The Highway Trust Fund is projected to exhaust most of its reserve cash by September following this summer’s highway construction season. […]
Proposed Rule Would Loosen Overtime Exemptions
July 27, 2015
Some federal workers will have the opportunity to collect overtime if a proposed U.S. Department of Labor rule is implemented. The Obama Administration is supporting the measure, with the president suggesting he will use his executive authority to loosen overtime exemptions that prevented hundreds of thousands of federal workers from being able to collect overtime. […]
