No Furloughs at Customs and Border Protection
IRS Employees to Receive $70 Million in Bonuses
Uncharted Financial Waters at Defense
Postal Service Eyes Cuba
Should Leaders Ever Lie?
Unions: Efficiency Board Is 'Offensive,' 'Unwise'
AUTHOR ARCHIVES
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.
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 ...
Groups question TSP interfund transfer restrictions
December 19, 2007 A federal Thrift Savings Plan advisory panel on Wednesday appeared divided as to whether a new plan to restrict the number of transfers participants can conduct each month is the best way to address the issue of frequent trading activity. The Employee Thrift Advisory Council, which consists of labor unions ...
Catch-all funding bill includes pay parity, personnel provisions
December 18, 2007 The $516 billion omnibus spending bill approved by the House late Monday includes not only a 3.5 percent pay increase for federal civilian employees, but other provisions related to contracting and efforts to overhaul agency personnel systems. The 3.5 percent figure is half a percent higher than the raise proposed ...
TSP officials hear from participants on interfund restrictions
December 17, 2007 Thrift Savings Plan officials said Monday they were receiving both positive and negative feedback on a new proposal to limit the number of interfund transfers that participants can conduct each month. Officials overseeing the 401(k)-style plan said so far the TSP has received two letters in favor of and 10 ...
