Shipping out

It's transition time and across the government political appointees are packing their bags and heading home. But whose responsibility is it to pay for shipping their belongings? According to the General Services Administration's Office of Governmentwide Policy, that depends on the type of appointee.

Presidential appointees are not eligible for relocation allowances at all. But departing Senior Executive Service appointees are covered under Federal Travel Regulations (FTR 302-1.100) under certain conditions.

Such appointees are eligible to move at federal expense if the government has previously paid to relocate them. Career appointees to the SES must also be eligible to receive an annuity under one of four options, must have separated from federal service on or after Sept. 22 1998 and must not have previously received "last move home" benefits.

If you meet these criteria, the following expenses are covered:

• Travel expenses and per diem for the employee.
• Transportation expenses, but not per diem, for the employee's immediate family.
• Mileage allowance for travel in a privately owned vehicle.
• Transportation and temporary storage of household goods up to 18,000 pounds net weight for up to 180 days.

New SES appointees are eligible for the same moving expenses. For more information see GSA's Federal Travel Regulations.

Pay Raise Update

This year, President Clinton proposed a 3.7 percent average pay raise (including both an across-the-board raise and locality pay increases), and language authorizing the increase was included in the fiscal 2001 Treasury-Postal spending bill. But that bill has yet to be signed into law. Clinton vetoed the measure in late October. Since Congress won't take up the bill again until it returns for a lame-duck session Dec. 5, Clinton must issue an alternative pay raise by the end of the day Thursday in order to prevent a higher pay raise from taking effect. For the full story on the 2001 pay raise, click here.