The Office of Personnel Management this afternoon released the latest Benefits Administration Letter detailing how health care reform is going to affect federal employees. One of the bigger changes affecting Federal Employees Health Benefits Program enrollees is the extension of coverage for adult children of feds. Currently, only unmarried dependent children younger than 22 are eligible for coverage. But the health care changes will expand coverage to adult children up to age 26, as well as removing residency and dependency requirements for coverage. And there’s a few other firsts for adult children (younger than 26, of course): Married adult children of feds…
Browsing: Pay & Benefits
A majority of workers do not take a regular lunch break, according to a new online poll by Right Management, a talent and career management expert within employment services company Manpower. When asked if they take a break for lunch at work, 47 percent said “almost always” while 13 percent said “seldom, if ever.” Employees who choose to eat at their desks was 20 percent, and only those that take a lunch break “from time to time” clocked in at 19 percent. The numbers may be food for thought as employees are forced to do more with less, according to…
The Kaiser Family Foundation today released a sobering report about the state of health care costs in America. Employees are paying on average $4,000 per year for their share of family health care coverage this year. That’s 14 percent, or $482, more than they paid last year. That far outpaces the overall 3 percent increase in family health premiums, meaning families are increasingly shouldering the burden of health care costs. Overall, average annual family health care premium costs have increased by 114 percent since 2000, from $6,438 to $13,770. But over that time, workers’ shares have increased by 147 percent,…
I’ve had the nagging feeling lately that this never-ending debate over federal salaries is, deep down, really just a Rorschach test for how someone feels about the government. And the Cato Institute’s latest blog on the subject has some interesting comments that lend credence to my theory. Cato budget analyst Tad DeHaven on Tuesday fired back at OPM Director John Berry’s recent assertions that Cato and other federal critics are playing fast and loose with the facts to support their political viewpoints. DeHaven goes over some familiar points — federal perks and benefits are much more generous than in the…
Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry released a statement last night disagreeing with recent stories that find federal employees are paid vastly more than employees in the private sector. Berry’s arguments largely track with points made by other OPM officials Friday afternoon. Here’s Berry’s full statement: Recent press stories regarding pay for Federal employees compared to private sector workers are unfair and untrue. Simply put, these stories have compared apples to oranges. Federal workers are not paid double the private sector. The Cato Institute and USA Today stories quoting Cato staff (and similar statements from the Heritage Foundation) look…
The Office of Personnel Management just released a letter that said this year’s open season for the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program will run from Monday, Nov. 8 through Monday, Dec. 13. Federal employees will be able to select their health, dental and vision insurance plans and enroll in a Flexible Spending Account between those dates. Anyone already enrolled in a health, dental or vision plan will stay enrolled in their current plan unless they choose to change or cancel it. But Flexible Spending Accounts don’t carry over from one year to another — enrollees must set up an account…
Judge Tauro’s decision last week striking down a section of the Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional could have big consequences for married gay and lesbian federal employees in Massachusetts. If you’re one of them — or the spouse or partner of a gay and lesbian fed — we’d like to hear from you on the possibility of gaining spousal health insurance benefits. E-mail me at slosey@federaltimes.com if you’d like to talk.
The Thrift Savings Plan’s long-awaited website overhaul went up over the weekend and is now online here. The site offers more interactivity, a cleaner interface, and easy-to-find information on life events, retirement planning, managing contributions, and researching various funds. “Our goal is to provide you with better, faster and easier access to the information you need to make the best decisions for your TSP account,” executive director Greg Long said in a message posted online. Even the folks on the TSP Talk message board are giving the update a thumbs up, and they don’t cut the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment…
The Heritage Foundation today released a report on federal compensation which calls for drastic cuts in most federal salaries. Heritage concluded that when benefits are factored in, feds earn 30 percent to 40 percent more on average than their private-sector counterparts. Bringing federal salaries in line with market rates would save $47 billion in 2011 alone, Heritage said in its report, “Inflated Federal Pay: How Americans Are Overtaxed to Overpay the Civil Service.” Heritage also calls for abolishing the General Schedule, with its longevity-based raises, and establishing a pay-for-performance system with broad pay bands, cutting leave and other generous federal…
Retired federal employee James Stephens writes in a new op-ed piece on FederalTimes.com that managers should forget about trying to define and respond to sick leave abuse: I did not abuse sick leave … I treated my sick leave as an asset to be used. At one point, I had more than 1,500 hours of accumulated sick leave. On the day I retired I had no balance. He explains: The problem is that managers pretend that the problem is employees who abuse something that isn’t theirs. … Agencies should view excessive sick leave as a symptom of another problem, depression,…