Tangherlini Tapped to Stay On at GSA
Video: Stephen Colbert on the Census Bureau
Lawmaker: Don't Furlough Weather Service Now
Making Government 'Simpler'
OK Senators Leery of Unfunded Tornado Relief
Boldly Go Where No Fed's Gone Before
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Brittany Ballenstedt
Blogger
Brittany Ballenstedt writes Nextgov's Wired Workplace blog, which delves into the issues facing employees who work in the federal information technology sector. Before joining Nextgov, Brittany covered federal pay and benefits issues as a staff correspondent for Government Executive and served as an associate editor for National Journal's Technology Daily. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Mansfield University and originally hails from Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Travis Air Force Base, Calif., where her husband is stationed.
Defense to begin recruiting foreign language corps
January 15, 2008 The Defense Department is assembling a corps of people fluent in critical foreign languages to serve the nation during times of emergency or international need. By 2010, the department will recruit at least 1,000 people to serve in the new National Language Service Corps, said Gail McGinn, deputy undersecretary of ...
Labor Department to fly solo on veterans' employment complaints
January 11, 2008 The Labor Department once again has sole jurisdiction to investigate military service members' complaints about their federal employment, even though a study examining the processing of such claims was considered inconclusive. A pilot project created by Congress in 2004 sought to determine which of two federal agencies -- Labor's Veterans ...
Panelists debate public service academy proposal
January 9, 2008 A panel of public policy experts on Wednesday debated whether establishing a bricks-and-mortar undergraduate academy would be the solution to the federal government's looming workforce challenges. At a forum sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, panelists expressed support for or suggested alternatives to creating a U.S. ...
Union files Supreme Court appeal of NSPS lawsuit
January 7, 2008 A federal labor union on Monday filed an appeal with the Supreme Court against the Defense Department's new personnel system. The American Federation of Government Employees filed a petition with the high court, asking it to hear a case on the legality of the National Security Personnel System's labor relations ...
TSP funds earn modest gains in 2007
January 4, 2008 The three riskier funds in the Thrift Savings Plan posted losses for December, though all five basic funds made modest gains for all of 2007. The government securities (G) fund, which is the most reliable, posted the greatest gains last month out of the five basic investment options, rising 0.41 ...
Pentagon follows Congress' lead on NSPS raises
January 4, 2008 Employees under the Defense Department's new personnel system will still receive a pay raise equivalent to the formula Congress approved in an authorization bill, despite a presidential veto last week. Pentagon officials said in a Web post Thursday that the 110,000 employees to convert to the National Security Personnel System ...
Extending Benefits
January 3, 2008 A bipartisan group of lawmakers is hoping to put the federal government on par with many private sector companies by extending domestic partner benefits to federal employees. Under new legislation introduced in both houses of Congress on Dec. 19, 2007, a government employee and same-sex domestic partner would be eligible ...
New Defense personnel system frees managers
January 3, 2008 In the 2004 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress gave the Defense Department authority to design an implement a system governing how more the Defense civilian employees are hired, paid, promoted, and disciplined. With a focus on flexibility, the National Security Personnel System enables the department to link pay raises more ...
Freedom To Manage
January 1, 2008 Under the new Defense personnel system, the cost of liberty is high. When the Defense Department began moving its civilian workforce to a new personnel system almost two years ago, Pat Tamburrino knew managers would have their hands full. Many had little experience writing measurable job objectives or linking pay ...
Senate approves stronger whistleblower protections
December 19, 2007 The Senate this week unanimously approved legislation that would strengthen protections for federal employees who disclose government waste, fraud or threats to public safety. The bill (S. 274), introduced by Sens. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, seeks to reform the 1989 Whistleblower Protection Act, which has been weakened ...
