Is Your Privacy Worth 50 Foiled Terror Plots?
Postal Service Eyes Cuba
Tangherlini As GSA's Mr. Fix-It?
Lew Cleans Up Signature for the Nation's Currency
The Plan to Open More Military Jobs to Women
Should Leaders Ever Lie?
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.
Lawsuit seeks Sunday pay differential for part-timers
April 18, 2007 A lawsuit filed Wednesday by the labor union that represents employees at the National Weather Service could determine whether all part-time federal employees are entitled to a 25 percent bonus for working on Sunday. The lawsuit, brought by the National Weather Service Employees Organization, seeks to clarify that four part-time ...
No time off for travel on holidays, OPM says
April 17, 2007 Federal employees traveling on federal holidays as part of their jobs are not entitled to compensatory time off, under final rules issued Tuesday by the Office of Personnel Management. "Compensatory time off for travel may be earned by an employee only for time spent in a travel status away from ...
TSP to assess capacity to handle stock market plunges
April 16, 2007 Officials overseeing the Thrift Savings Plan should be sure they are prepared to handle an increased volume of transactions in the event of a major market plunge, members of the retirement plan's board said at a meeting Monday. TSP officials noted that following the stock market drop in late February, ...
DHS urged to shift bonus money from execs to employees
April 16, 2007 The Homeland Security Department must find a way to give employees better recognition for their contributions and achievements, according to Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee. In a 2007 report card, the panel's majority staff said delaying monetary awards and bonuses for upper-level managers and Senior Executive Service employees ...
Human capital officers' council outlines structural changes
April 13, 2007 A council of top agency personnel officials delivered its fourth annual report to Congress Thursday, informing lawmakers of changes and improvements last fiscal year. The report from the Chief Human Capital Officers Council listed three main structural and organizational changes in fiscal 2006. These included allowing personnel chiefs to send ...
Union, immigration agency move toward new contract
April 13, 2007 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the American Federation of Government Employees signed a joint agreement Friday in an effort to improve the working relationship between agency managers and union representatives. The move marks the first step in the development of a new labor-management contract. The agency is operating under ...
OPM strengthens health savings accounts benefit
April 12, 2007 Federal employees now enrolled in high deductible health plans will be able to make pre-tax allotments to health savings accounts by the beginning of next year. According to an April 6 benefits administration letter from the Office of Personnel Management, all eligible employees will be able to make the pre-tax ...
Agencies launch air traffic training for disabled veterans
April 11, 2007 Disabled veterans now are eligible for on-the-job training to become air traffic controllers or equipment repair technicians, the Federal Aviation Administration announced Tuesday. The program -- a joint effort by FAA and the Veterans Affairs Department -- enables eligible veterans to train for air traffic control and airway transportation systems ...
NASA chief asks lawmakers for more workforce flexibilities
April 10, 2007 The head of NASA is calling on lawmakers to give the agency the flexibility to offer workers financial incentives to move from permanent to temporary civil service positions. In a March 28 letter, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin asked Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee, ...
TSP board awards contract for forms processing
April 9, 2007 The board that oversees the federal employee Thrift Savings Plan has awarded a $16 million contract to help with forms processing and other work. Under the agreement, SI International of Reston, Va., also will support imaging and data entry for applications and forms for the 401(k)-style retirement plan. The contract ...
