UPDATE: The official release is now online here. Written comments should be sent to: Defense Business Board ATTN: Ms. Phyllis Ferguson 2521 South Clark Street, Room 650 Arlington, VA 22202 ORIGINAL POST: The three-man board reviewing the National Security Personnel System is about to formally announce its two-day schedule of public meetings. The second day — June 26 — will be devoted to hearing the thoughts of Defense Department employees and managers under the controversial pay-for-performance system. Pentagon spokesman Les’ Melnyk just told me that the board wants anyone interested in testifying to write a letter — not an e-mail, not…
Browsing: Pay & Benefits
New Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry’s announcement last week that the Obama administration wants all federal employees to be paid based on how well they perform doesn’t exactly have federal unions doing cartwheels. The American Federation of Government Employees said pay for performance can’t work in the government, and said that the General Schedule is enough to reward hard workers. The National Treasury Employees Union, on the other hand, said it would wait and see what Berry comes up with. And the National Federation of Federal Employees just weighed in on the issue this morning. Though President Rick Brown said he felt…
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee plans to vote on HR 626, the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act, tomorrow at 1 p.m. The bill would allow new parents to take four weeks of paid leave after the birth or adoption of a child. The committee’s ranking Republican, Darrell Issa of California, opposes the bill. Issa sent letters to the committee members last night saying that “it is simply not the right time” to create a new $850 million benefit for federal employees during the tough economy: While our committee contemplates enhancing federal benefits packages, the rest of working…
Update: HR 1804 passed by a unanimous voice vote today. It will now head to the Senate, which is expected to consider the bill as part of the larger tobacco bill. Original post: The House is preparing to vote on a bill containing several provisions affecting federal employees this afternoon. HR 1804, the Federal Retirement Reform Act, would: Automatically enroll all new employees in the Thrift Savings Plan’s G Fund. The Pentagon would decide on its own whether new military service members would be automatically enrolled. Create a Roth 401(k) option in the TSP. Allow the board governing the TSP to…
Update, 5:05 p.m.: A quick (and supportive) reaction from John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees: “We have said consistently that this system is inherently flawed. It lacks transparency and fairness. It is a system that is completely untenable and should never have been pursued… I am pleased that [Lynn] has decided to take immediate action.” Original post: The Defense Department announced a major review of the National Security Personnel System today. The announcement came from William Lynn, the deputy secretary of defense. The pay-for-performance system has been controversial for years; President Barack Obama said during the…
Should the CEO of a company posting billions in annual losses receive a 50 percent raise and a six-figure bonus? And I’m not talking about the banks, or the crumbling auto companies. I’m talking about the U.S. Postal Service. ABC News reported last night that the postmaster general, John Potter, received almost an $80,000 raise last year — his base salary is now $263,575 — along with a $135,041 “incentive bonus.” This in a year when the Postal Service posted a $2.8 billion loss. Throw in retirement benefits and other perks, and his annual salary comes to more than $850,000. I don’t…
Reps. James Moran, D-Va., and Frank Wolf, R-Va., just reintroduced a bill that would allow employees under the Federal Employees Retirement System to count unused sick leave as time toward their annuities. The sponsors of the FERS Sick Leave Equity Act, which has not yet been assigned a number, say it will save the government $68 million per year by cutting down on employees’ lost productivity. Because FERS employees currently lose all of their sick leave credit when they leave the government, Moran said many start to suffer from the so-called “FERS flu” as they near retirement: FERS’ use it or lose it system for…
Rep. James Moran, D-Va., is preparing to reintroduce a bill that would allow employees under the Federal Employees Retirement System to count unused sick leave as time toward their annuities. Moran spokesman Austin Durrer said the bill could be reintroduced as early as next week. A previous sick leave bill sponsored by Moran was attached to a tobacco bill approved by the House last year, but the Senate’s version did not have a similar provision and the sick leave proposal did not survive.
The FERS Redeposit Act is getting a second life. Three representatives reintroduced the bill, HR, 828, Tuesday, which would allow federal employees returning to the federal workforce from the private sector to reinvest their full federal retirement annuity without losing any credit for previous years of service. The bill, first introduced in 2007, died in the House Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia. The bill was introduced by Reps. James Moran, D-Va., Frank Wolf, R-Va., and Gerald Connolly, D-Va. It’s been referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and will likely…
Lawmakers have reintroduced a bill that would provide four weeks of paid leave for federal employees who give birth to or adopt a child. Similar bills have failed in the past, however. And though Democrats have a stronger position in this Congress than they did last year, it still remains to be seen whether this bill will become law. What do you think? Has the lack of paid parental leave hurt you when your family grew? We’d like to hear from you. Send an e-mail to Stephen Losey at slosey@federaltimes.com.