Five Telework Tips

• By Jean Fogarty
• December 6, 2012
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The 2010 Telework Enhancement Act is changing the workplace landscape. As government agencies establish policies for working outside the office, many employees are no longer bound to the standard 40-hour workweek under the same roof as their manager. 

This has its advantages. Telework can improve work-life balance, reduce the need for office space and real estate costs, curb absenteeism, and enhance recruitment and retention. Still, many managers are uncomfortable with this new office culture and worry about productivity. 

There is a happy middle, however, for teleworkers and their bosses. Here are five tips that can take the tension out of teleworking. 

Cover the Basics

Managers and employees both should know the parameters for working off-site—such as who has authority to approve telework and which employees are eligible—and sign agreements. Review agency policies, including terms and conditions, remote transmission of classified and sensitive information, reporting requirements and employee rights. Teleworkers should know what to do in case of emergency and be aware that they may temporarily have expanded roles and responsibilities if their co-workers can’t get into the office. Telework training for employees and managers is available at Telework.gov, an interagency website hosted by OPM and the ...

More TRICARE Hikes Are in the Offing

• By Kellie Lunney
• November 29, 2012
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It looks like military retirees covered by TRICARE will end up paying a little more for their prescription drugs, but not as much as the Obama administration would like.

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., offered an amendment to the fiscal 2013 Defense authorization bill Wednesday that would modestly increase TRICARE co-payments for name-brand and nonformulary drugs next year, according to a Nov. 28 report in Army Times. It also would cap pharmacy co-pays beginning in 2014 so that such fees are in line with the annual retiree cost-of-living adjustment. The costs associated with the fee increases would be offset by a pilot program requiring TRICARE for Life recipients to obtain maintenance drug refills through the mail.

Reed’s amendment, which is similar to a provision in the House-passed version of the fiscal 2013 Defense authorization, would result in co-pays of $17 for brand-name drugs at retail pharmacies and $44 for nonformulary drugs, according to Army Times. Co-pays for 90-day prescriptions obtained through the mail would increase to $13 for brand-name drugs and $44 for nonformulary medication under Reed’s amendment.

President Obama has proposed higher increases for drug co-payments at pharmacies and through the mail. Under the administration’s proposal ...

Will Budget Deal Target Federal Pay and Benefits?

• By Kellie Lunney
• November 15, 2012
• comments

Simpson-Bowles is back.

The famous (or infamous?) 2010 bipartisan fiscal commission led by former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson from Wyoming and former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles never really went away, but other deficit reduction proposals and super heroes did steal the commission’s limelight for a while. Remember the joint congressional super committee that was supposed to fix the budget problem last year? Well, that group failed and now the government is facing massive, across-the-board spending cuts starting in 2013 if Congress and the White House can’t agree on how to avoid or defer them.

Nobody wants sequestration to happen. So, what’s the alternative? The Obama administration and lawmakers now are hashing out how to avert the current budget crisis, known as the fiscal cliff, between now and Jan. 2, 2013. The smart money is on leaders cobbling together some version, or combination of, the deficit reduction recommendations outlined in the Simpson-Bowles report -- a Simpson-Bowles 2.0, if you will. And if that happens, there’s a decent chance a deal could contain provisions targeting federal pay and benefits.

Let’s recap some of the specific recommendations relating to feds:

Extended pay freeze: The panel ...

Federal Pensions and the Meaning of Fully Funded

• By Kellie Lunney
• November 8, 2012
• comments

With the 2012 presidential election over (finally!), the threat of the so-called fiscal cliff takes center stage. Congress and President Obama, reelected to a second term, will start negotiating in earnest over how to avoid the looming perfect storm of expiring tax cuts, sequestration and the debt ceiling. Any serious discussion of debt reduction and spending cuts almost always involves proposals to restructure federal compensation.

The Obama administration and lawmakers from both parties generally favor increasing the amount government workers contribute to their pensions. Federal employee unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees and the National Treasury Employees Union, are poised to do battle to protect retirement benefits and pay as the lame-duck session gets under way and the new Congress convenes in January 2013. During a conference call with reporters Wednesday morning, AFGE President J. David Cox argued against increasing feds’ pension contributions in part by claiming that “federal employee retirement is fully funded.” In other words, why change a system that’s working fine as it is and not breaking the bank? It’s an argument others have made before. But what does it mean?

Most federal workers fall under the Federal Employees Retirement System or the ...

Overpaid or Underpaid, Feds Had Quite a Week

• By Kellie Lunney
• November 1, 2012
• comments

The role of government, and of federal employees, during a disaster and its aftermath once again has captured the country’s attention, as the super storm that started out as Hurricane Sandy continues to plague the East Coast.

During a week when many people praised federal employees (e.g., the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard and the U.S. Postal Service) for doing their jobs exceptionally well, while others criticized Washington-area federal agencies for closing for two days, it’s somewhat fitting that yet another analysis is out commenting on the pay gap between public and private sector workers.

The Federal-Postal Coalition released an analysis Friday that criticized a January Congressional Budget Office report concluding federal employees are paid 16 percent more on average in total compensation (including benefits) than workers doing similar jobs in the private sector. “These conclusions are not consistent with the Federal Salary Council, which found in its October annual report that federal employees are underpaid approximately 34.6 percent,” the coalition stated in its analysis, calling CBO’s approach to the study “flawed.” That’s precisely the problem with this debate: Depending on the perspective, different methodologies, data and variables result in vastly ...