Fedweek

Standard whistleblower protections would be extended to national security personnel and they would have the right to appeal a revoked or suspended security clearance in retaliation for whistleblowing, under S-2723, recently offered in the Senate. Currently, those employees have certain protections under internal channels but not the same right to assert retaliation in a complaint before the OSC or a direct appeal to the MSPB as other employees. The measure also would extend whistleblower protections to congressional staff. Also introduced recently were HR-4729, to provide additional credit for overtime in the computation of retirement benefits for certain firefighters who have overtime as part of their regular work schedules; and S-2715, which would allow appeals of the suspension or revocation of access to classified information. Also, President Obama has signed into law (P.L. 114-37) a bill to allow agencies to select candidates from another agency’s “best qualified” list of applicants for a similar job, rather than having to build their own lists. The goal is to reduce administrative work for agencies and relieve applicants of the need to undergo the competitive assessment process repeatedly.