Relief for Activated Reservists Sought

Legislation being offered in the Senate by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., would assure that federal employees who are activated into military positions would not suffer a loss in income by requiring agencies to make up the difference between their military pay while on active duty and their normal pay as a federal employee. More than 120,000 federal workers are in Reserve or National Guard units and are subject to call-up, with most suffering salary reductions, some of them severe. Similar legislation was offered earlier in the House (HR-217). Federal agencies have discretionary authority to pay both the employee and government shares of the Federal Employees Health Benefits program premiums for employees who are called to active military duty-they can keep FEHB coverage for up to 18 months-and the Office of Personnel Management recently encouraged agencies to use that authority. The Defense Department uses that authority but policies in other agencies vary.