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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.
Hitting the Ceiling
August 2, 2007 A specialist in the Congressional Research Service is drawing renewed attention to the issue of crowding at the top of the federal pay scale. Curtis Copeland, a specialist in American national government at CRS, told members of a House subcommittee Tuesday that ceilings limiting maximum compensation are creating compression at ...
TSP stock funds post losses for July
August 2, 2007 The most reliable funds in the Thrift Savings Plan made minimal gains for July, while all other funds lost ground. Fixed-income bonds represented in the 401(k)-style federal employee retirement plan's F Fund posted the greatest gains last month out of the five basic investment options, rising 0.8 percent. The fund's ...
Lawmakers question government contribution to health premiums
August 2, 2007 The government pays an adequate share of federal employees' health care premiums, the head of the Office of Personnel Management said Thursday in response to concerned lawmakers. The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program already is competitive with health insurance programs offered in the private sector, OPM Director Linda Springer testified ...
TSP divestiture proposals stall in committee
July 30, 2007 Two legislative provisions that would have affected the federal employee Thrift Savings Plan by urging fiduciaries to offer socially responsible investment options stalled at the committee level. The provisions were removed from two major bills -- H.R. 180 by Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., and H.R. 2347 by Rep. Barney Frank, ...
Senators propose incentives to attract public health workers
July 27, 2007 Legislation introduced Thursday in the Senate would establish scholarships and loan repayment programs for students going into public health professions. The bill, S. 1882, introduced by Sens. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., aims to increase the pipeline of qualified public health workers at the federal, state, local and ...
Playing Up Performance
July 26, 2007 There seems to be a developing consensus among federal human resources executives that scrapping the decades-old General Schedule pay system is a necessity. "I fear that if we don't move forward with [a pay-for-performance system] at a brisk pace, the folks we've brought into the federal service and invested heavily ...
House members unveil paid parental leave legislation
July 26, 2007 House lawmakers introduced a bill on Wednesday that would institute a paid parental leave policy for all federal employees. The bill (H.R. 3158), sponsored by Reps. Tom Davis, R-Va., Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., would provide all federal employees with eight weeks of paid leave for the birth ...
Other countries share U.S. government’s workforce challenges
July 25, 2007 The U.S. government is not alone in the need to implement pay reforms and address talent gaps, according to a recent report by consulting firm KPMG. In fact, four other major countries are facing strikingly similar requirements, the report found. The report found that officials from the governments of five ...
House appropriators approve 3.5 percent military pay raise
July 25, 2007 A House panel on Wednesday passed a bill granting members of the military a 2008 pay raise of 3.5 percent, a figure equal to the adjustment already approved by the House for civilian federal employees. The House Appropriations Committee approved the military raise during the markup of the fiscal 2008 ...
FAA urged to improve maintenance of air traffic facilities
July 24, 2007 The Federal Aviation Administration must improve working conditions at the nation's air traffic control facilities, in part to help address staffing challenges, witnesses told members of a House subcommittee Tuesday. At a hearing before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation, lawmakers and employee representatives pointed to air traffic ...
