Budget Plan Orders Substantial Savings Coming From Federal Employee Benefits
A budget plan that has now cleared final votes in Congress would order substantial savings in the accounts under the …More
Fedweek
Sign up Now! Free eNewslettersRaising Retirement Contributions, Health Premium Formula are the Main Candidates
The big dollar programs for federal employees are retirement and the FEHB, and employee organizations say that Congress would have …More
Many Familiar Ideas Could Be in Play
Proposals to raise employee contributions toward retirement and to switch to a voucher arrangement in the FEHB date back many …More
White House Renews Pitch for Raise
The budget resolution takes no position on a 2016 federal employee raise, although one of the appropriations bills, a VA …More
Appeal Rights, Awards for All VA Employees Targeted
Companion bills offered in the House (HR-2047) and Senate (S-1117) would apply to nearly all VA employees the revisions to …More
OPM Urges Participation in Wellness Programs
OPM recently sent a memo telling agencies to do more to encourage their employees to participate in wellness programs, a …More
TSP Funds Turn in Mixed Performance
The TSP funds turned in a mixed performance in April, with the international stock I fund up 4.11 percent and …More
House Plan Would Boost Role of Employee Performance in RIF Decisions
DoD would be instructed to put employees’ performance above other factors such as longevity in RIFs, under the annual DoD …More
New RIF Formula Would Have to Be Decided
The language reflects a number of moves in Congress to put more emphasis on performance in federal personnel decisions, which …More
House Again Set to Reject Base Closings
The defense measure also would once again reject the Pentagon’s request for another round of base closings and realignments. DoD …More
Quicker Disciplinary Process at VA Proposed
In a proposal that is both a result of an earlier change and a precedent for potential further changes, a …More
Wide Impact, but Many Questions
The bill—which the committee could start moving soon—is the most wide-ranging of the many proposals raised in reaction to the …More
Viewpoint Survey Under Way
OPM has started to conduct the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, an annual government-wide polling of personal experiences and opinions of …More
House Supports Changes in Retirement
The military retirement system would provide a “portable 401k-like benefit” for service members who do not remain on active duty …More
New Draft Budget Plan Targets FERS Supplemental Payment and Contributions Towards Retirement
House and Senate members have begun meeting to produce a single budget plan for the upcoming fiscal year, so far …More
One Disciplinary Bill Falls Short, Others Advance
A majority of the House voted to pass a bill advocating the firing of federal employees seriously delinquent on their …More
Disciplinary Changes at VA Pushed
Meanwhile, a veterans affairs subcommittee has approved HR-473, under which SES members at the VA would have to change jobs …More
Guidance Issued on Ethical Restrictions and Social Media
The Office of Government Ethics has issued guidance regarding how use of social media relates to ethical conduct restrictions on …More
COLA Count Still Negative at Halfway Mark
Halfway through the count to determine the January 2016 federal retiree COLA, the count remains in negative territory at -1.4 …More
COLA, Raise Are Two Separate Things
With the COLA count halfway home, this is a good point to note the differences between a raise and a …More
Groundwork Being Laid for Postal Reform
The leading advocate of postal reform in Congress, Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., has started laying the groundwork for another attempt …More
Proposals Could Require Federal Employees to Pay More
Congress is back at work from a two-week recess, but key issues involving federal employee benefits addressed in budget plans …More
House Set to Consider Requiring Firing for Tax Delinquency
The House has scheduled a vote for as soon as today (April 15) on HR-1563, to generally make those with …More
Mandatory Discipline for Retaliating Also Considered
The House Veterans Affairs Committee has held a hearing at which members pushed a separate plan to mandate disciplinary actions …More
Guidance Issued on Customer Service Awards
OMB has issued guidance on the Federal Customer Service Awards Program that the administration announced several months ago, saying that …More
No Money, But Recognition in Several Forms
The guidance stresses that the Customer Service Awards will not carry a cash component, although adding that agencies “have discretion …More
No Automatic Enrollment in Self Plus One
Those interested in the new self plus one option in the FEHB program that will be available for the 2016 …More
GSA Alters Reimbursement Policies
Rules published by GSA in the April 10 Federal Register restrict eligibility previously granted for certain domestic partners for many …More
Many Blanks Left to Fill On Retirement Contributions Proposal
Congress returns from a recess next week with one of the first orders of business being to resolve differences between …More
Changes to Retirement Supplement, Other Provisions Need to Be Defined
The House version of the measure contains various other assumptions and “illustrative policy options” such as targeting the special retirement …More
