News
The Ease of the Postal Service Makes It a Vector for Violence
A short history of how the mail has been exploited for terror.
News
Energy Department Steps Up Whistleblower Protections
Contractors will face civil penalties if they retaliate against employees who raise nuclear safety concerns.
Benefits
Senate to probe allegations of patient neglect at VA facility
The Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs will hold a hearing on alleged patient neglect at a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Phoenix, Ariz., after the department's inspector general completes an independent investigation of the allegations.
Employee Policy
IFPTE urges Congress to reject TVA privatization
The International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers is urging leaders of the congressional committees that oversee the Tennessee Valley Authority to reject the administration's proposal to divest the TVA.
Pay
House lawmakers say new CFC rules could backfire
A bipartisan group House legislators is pushing back at new draft regulations from the Office of Personnel Management that make major changes to the way the Combined Federal Campaign is operated.
Employee Policy
Postal unions pool efforts to oppose White House reform proposal
The leaders of four major postal unions wrote a letter to the leaders of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to express their opposition to the president's budget proposals concerning the U.S. Postal Service—as well as the committee's plans to try to marry those proposals with its own legislation.
Employee Policy
Lawmaker looks to lessen reform impact on employees
A House lawmaker is pursuing ways to implement improvements at two agencies through alternative approaches that exert a less severe impact on federal employees.
Employee Policy
Senators want more frequent security clearance reviews
Four senators are asking the leaders of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to act on a bill to strengthen security clearance background checks.
Employee Policy
Senator to form whistleblower caucus
A long-time advocate of federal whistleblowers said he will form a caucus aimed at making sure whistleblower laws are enforced.
Employee Policy
Boehner pushes for VA accountability bill
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has thrown in with supporters of legislation that would give the secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs the authority to demote or remove senior VA officials for poor performance.
Employee Policy
House members ask for 'official time' report
Two members of Congress are pressing Office of Personnel Management Director Katherine Archuleta to release a report on the amount of "official time" federal employees used in fiscal 2012.
Employee Policy
Report details FDA surveillance of agency whistleblowers
A new report released this week offered details on a Food and Drug Administration surveillance program that monitored federal whistleblowers.
Retirement
President's budget proposal will not include 'chained CPI'
The president's upcoming budget proposal will not include a controversial new method for calculating cost-of-living adjustments, a White House spokesman confirmed this week.
Employee Policy
Congress OKs suspension of debt limit
Congress last week passed legislation to suspend the federal debt limit for slightly more than one year.
Pay
Congress votes to repeal military COLA cut
Congress voted last week to repeal a recently passed reduction in retirement pay for military retirees under the age of 62.
Employee Policy
USPS reports losses; postal reform bill advances
The U.S. Postal Service this month reported some improvements in its overall financial picture in the first quarter of its 2014 fiscal year, but the agency said it nonetheless finished the quarter with a net loss of $354 million.
Employee Policy
Debt limit clock ticking
As it has done numerous times in recent years, the Treasury Department announced the implementation of "extraordinary measures" to protect the nation's credit until Congress passes legislation to raise the federal debt ceiling.
Employee Policy
Group: Don't vilify federal contractors
A trade group that represents professional and technical services industries that serve the government cautioned against vilifying contractors amid recent allegations that one investigations firm took shortcuts in conducting thousands of federal security clearances.
Employee Policy
USPS posts losses; postal reform bill advances
While the U.S. Postal Service reported some improvements in its overall financial picture in the first quarter of its 2014 fiscal year, it nonetheless finished the quarter with a net loss of $354 million.
Pay