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
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.
Lawmaker backs pay parity, 3.5 percent raise for 2008
May 3, 2007 The ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Thursday urged House appropriators to ensure parity in 2008 pay adjustments for civilian federal workers and members of the military. In a letter to leaders of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., argued that the military ...
Pentagon rolls out performance-based pay
May 3, 2007 Ninety-seven percent of employees working under the first round of conversion to the Pentagon's new personnel system will receive performance-based payouts this year, according to an online notice posted Wednesday. The 11,000 employees working under the National Security Personnel System's Spiral 1.1 conversion were given a performance rating on a ...
Common stocks lead April TSP earnings
May 2, 2007 Common stocks in the Thrift Savings Plan made the strongest gains for April, though they still trailed behind the plan's international investments for yearlong growth. The C Fund, which tracks Standard & Poor's 500 Index of stocks in the largest domestic companies, gained 4.43 percent last month, far outperforming the ...
Senator renews push to reduce burden of pension offset
May 2, 2007 A bill reintroduced Tuesday in the Senate aims to scale back a pension offset that reduces Social Security benefits for some federal retirees. The bill (S. 1254), introduced by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., would ease the burden of a 1977 law that prevents certain retirees from collecting both a government ...
House panel approves 3.5 percent military pay raise
May 2, 2007 A House Armed Services subcommittee on Wednesday passed a 3.5 percent pay raise for members of the military for 2008. That figure, which is half a percent higher than the raise proposed by the Bush administration, likely will give federal labor unions an edge in pushing for an equivalent raise ...
Lawmakers skeptical of planned Federal Protective Service cuts
May 1, 2007 Members of a House committee on Tuesday questioned a proposal to eliminate 249 police officers from the Federal Protective Service. At a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee, lawmakers expressed concern that the Homeland Security Department's plan to establish a "refocused workforce" at FPS, composed mainly of inspectors and ...
Union official, FEMA clash over morale issues
April 30, 2007 A federal labor union official on Monday called on Congress to help "rescue" the Federal Emergency Management Agency from sinking morale, while an agency official countered that he was not speaking for the entire FEMA workforce. In a letter to Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., the head of an American ...
GAO settles pay dispute with 12 of 308 senior analysts
April 27, 2007 The Government Accountability Office has reached settlements with 12 of 308 employees denied pay increases last year. The 12 employees were offered promotions, back pay and associated benefits as if they had been promoted as of Jan. 8, 2006, several sources confirmed Thursday. The case goes back to June 2005, ...
Agencies report rise in student loan repayments
April 27, 2007 Federal agencies significantly increased their use of student loan repayment programs in 2006, according to a report released Friday by the Office of Personnel Management. From fiscal 2005 to fiscal 2006, there was a 31 percent increase in the number of federal employees receiving student loan repayment benefits, and a ...
OPM proposes new rules on higher pay for hard-to-fill jobs
April 26, 2007 The Office of Personnel Management has proposed new regulations to help more agencies use a flexibility allowing higher pay for hard-to-fill positions. OPM's proposal, published Wednesday in the Federal Register, provides a regulatory framework for agencies to obtain permission to offer better pay for positions that require specific expertise in ...
