White House to Tackle FECA Program
The Bush administration has said it will propose reforms in the Federal Employees Compensation Act, the program providing medical benefits …More
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Sign up Now! Free eNewslettersOther Key Elements of Proposed Reforms
Other key elements of the Bush administration Managerial Flexibility Act proposal (S-1613) include: enhancing authority to give recruitment, retention and …More
Personnel Reform Hearings Coming
Hearings could be held next month in the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee on proposals by the Bush administration and committee …More
LABOR DEPARTMENT PLANS EARLY OUTS
The Labor Department will offer an early retirement opportunity for selected employees beginning March 1 and running through September 30, …More
DOD OFFERS CHOICE ON BUYOUT PAYMENTS
Defense Department employees getting buyout payments now may elect to receive the payment as one lump-sum or as biweekly or …More
DOD BUDGET BOOSTS MASKS PERSONNEL CUT
Although much attention on the Bush administration’s recent budget proposal as it regards the Defense Department, the largest employer of …More
PAY RAISE PROJECTION MADE
The Bush administration’s budget proposal-while seeking a 2.6 percent average general schedule raise in January 2003 compared with a basic …More
GUIDANCE ISSUED ON WAGE GRADE RAISES
The Office of Personnel Management has sent out its annual guidance on raises for wage grade employees, who are paid …More
NO CONVERSION ALLOWED IN LTC COVERAGE
Ever since it was first announced that the government was creating long-term care insurance for its employees, a major question …More
AGE, PREMIUM ISSUES ALSO SPECIFIED
For those electing early enrollment, the enrollee’s age for determining premiums will be the age at the time the carrier, …More
LTC UNDERWRITING REQUIREMENTS DEFINED
The underwriting requirements-questions relating to health-will be the same for both the early and open season enrollment opportunities in the …More
Coverage Effective Dates Also Set
For those joining during the early enrollment period, coverage will be effective on the later of May 1 or the …More
LTC Choices Will Be Limited in Early Enrollment
Federal employees, retirees and eligible family members wishing to take advantage of the early enrollment opportunity running March 25-May 15 …More
TSP Catch-Up Bill Offered in Senate
Legislation (S-1822) has been introduced in the Senate to make Thrift Savings Plan participants who are age 50 and over …More
TSP Stock Funds Change Direction
After three months of posting gains, the three Thrift Savings Plan funds tracking stock markets declined in January, with the …More
Accounting Change Idea Also Repeated
The administration’s budget also repeats a proposal the White House made last year to require agencies-rather than the Treasury-to fund …More
Other Management Agenda Items Also Stressed
The budget document further gives poor grades overall to agencies’ efforts to manage their “human capital,” rating only the Labor …More
Budget Repeats Contracting Goals
The White House’s budget proposal also repeats several management themes previously announced by the Bush administration, including continued pressure on …More
Dual Health Coverage a Traditional Issue
Retirees who become eligible for Medicare at age 65 have complained for years that they have to continue paying the …More
FEHB-Medicare Link to Be Examined
The White House’s budget proposal contained relatively little about federal benefits, although in one section focusing on the Medicare program, …More
4.1 Percent Likely to Be Target Figure
Also like last year, the 4.1 percent basic military raise figure will be the focus of attention of the pay …More
Early Test of Parity Concept Possible
Last year in a similar situation supporters of parity between federal and military personnel succeeded in getting both the House …More
2002 Free Federal Leave Chart Now Available
We have posted a FREE 2002 interactive federal employee leave use tracker on our Website at https://www.fedweek.com/HotFreeNews/default.asp. Every year, this …More
Another Fight over Raises Seems Likely
The Bush administration’s proposal that general schedule employees get raises averaging 2.6 percent in January 2003 likely will trigger a …More
Efforts on ‘Flexibility Act’ to Continue
Administration officials say that even though they plan to undertake a long-term reform of federal pay, they will continue to …More
Market-Based Pay Another Idea
Officials say another theme of the OPM white paper on federal pay likely will be the inability of the government …More
Pay for Performance a Top Priority
Officials say that pay for performance-or rather, the general lack of it in the federal workplace-is a primary topic of …More
OPM to Seek to Build Case for Pay Reform
The Office of Personnel Management plans to soon issue a “white paper” describing the problems with the current federal pay …More
Benefit Improvements for Nurses Considered
The Senate may soon consider House-passed legislation (HR-3477) aimed at improving benefits for Department of Veterans Affairs nurses by, among …More
Aggregating Buying Power also Controversial
The largest carrier in the FEHB-Blue Cross/Blue Shield, which covers about half of enrollees-has said it would not support another …More
