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With the House now in recess and the Senate soon to follow, it will be September at least until decisions are made on several federal workforce issues that have been attached to the annual defense budget.
That measure is considered an annual “must-pass” bill, and approval of a general budget outline—that adds money over the previous baseline for both defense and other purposes—could clear the way for the House and Senate to reach agreement and enact the bill before fiscal year 2020 begins October 1.
The House included in its version of the defense bill a provision to change from unpaid to paid the 12 weeks per 12-month period of leave available to federal employees under the Family and Medical Leave Act. That provision, which would apply government-wide, would cover not only parental leave on the birth, adoption or foster placement of a child, but also personal and family medical emergencies and situations arising from deployment of an employee or family member on active military duty.
The House further wants to return the standard probationary period at DoD to one year from two years, and to order a study that could pave the way for repealing a policy there elevating performance to the top among RIF retention factors.
The Senate, which approved its version first, has taken no position on those issues.
Neither version addresses the White House’s proposal to raise the standard buyout maximum government-wide to the $40,000 in effect at DoD; elsewhere the amount has remained the same $25,000 since buyout authority began in the early 1990s.