Many proposals on the federal workforce advanced by the White House have not been defined enough to be formally considered before the end of the year Image: Richard Smart/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffWith only several weeks of planned congressional working time scheduled before year’s end, many proposals affecting the federal workforce seem destined to fall by the wayside—in part because many of them remain undefined and therefore not in a form that can be formally considered for a change in law.
On pay, for example, the administration’s early year budget proposal sought not only to freeze rates for 2019 but also to add a year to each waiting period for within-grade increases and to create a $1 billion fund to reward performance, boost incentives for hard to fill occupations and experiment with variant forms of compensation. However, the key spending bill that would carry such a fund, the general government appropriations, is near completion with no mention of it. The administration still has not formally proposed legislation needed to create such a fund, nor has any member of Congress introduced any.
Similarly, the administration never formally proposed legislation to carry out its recommended change in the premium sharing system in the FEHB, to increase the government share for plans rated highly in customer satisfaction surveys and to decrease it for those with low ratings.
The administration did send Congress language to carry out several retirement proposals, including to increase the required employee contributions for most employees by about 6 percentage points phased in over the same number of years. The House Budget Committee did pass a non-binding measure advocating such changes but that progressed no farther.
In the spring, OPM director Jeff Pon said he intended to send a broad package of personnel policy reforms for Congress to consider before the elections, but no such package has emerged. Instead, the administration’s major initiative was to issue the three related executive orders on disciplinary and union issues. But large parts of it soon were blocked by a federal court, a ruling that is now under appeal.
Some House Republican leaders similarly had expressed interest in pursuing a broad overhaul of civil service law this year, on the 40th anniversary of the last comprehensive revisions, but no proposal has emerged in Congress either. One complication has been the dispute over a 2017 law that many saw as a potential model for changes to disciplinary policies, giving VA management a stronger hand over its employees and shortening the process.
Federal unions and some members of Congress have criticized the VA for using those powers disproportionately against lower-level employees and to deny employees the opportunity to improve their performance before being disciplined on performance grounds. An arbitrator sided with the AFGE union on that latter point, raising the prospects that the VA would be compelled to rehire some employees fired under those authorities. That decision also is now under appeal, to the FLRA.
Newly installed OPM director Jeff Pon outlining plans last spring:
Video source: OPM
