Pay & Benefits
Federal retirees face more than a COLA change in 2027
From Medicare premiums and Social Security earnings limits to a federal pay freeze, several changes could affect retirees’ finances and the benefits available to them next year.
Pay & Benefits
Cost-of-living adjustments for federal retirees to increase next year
Former federal workers are set to receive between 2.6% and 3.6% more from their retirement annuity next year, according to new numbers from the Social Security Administration.
Workforce
FAA administrator defends withholding part of ATC pay raise
Democrats on a House appropriations subcommittee accused FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford of trying to “squeeze” the already overstretched air traffic controller workforce.
Pay & Benefits
Lawmakers call on leadership to override Trump’s planned pay freeze
Members of both parties urged congressional leaders to “at minimum” authorize an across-the-board 3.8% pay raise for civilian federal employees, in line with President Trump’s supplemental pay increase planned only for law enforcement.
Pay & Benefits
Air traffic controllers are still waiting on 2.8% of their congressionally approved pay raise
Federal Aviation Administrator Bryan Bedford says the agency needs to improve how it uses its existing workforce before he will release the rest of the increase.
Pay & Benefits
Trump’s 2027 pay freeze has unions warning of recruitment, retention problems
Critics of President Trump’s plan to keep most federal employees’, save for federal law enforcement officers and military service members, pay at 2026 levels say it picks winners and losers.
Pay & Benefits
Trump formally proposes pay freeze for most federal workers, 3.8% increase for law enforcement
In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, the president claimed that denying the federal workforce a pay raise will not hurt agency recruitment and retention efforts.
Workforce
OPM finalizes expanded hazard pay for federal firefighters
Under regulations set to take effect next month, federal wildland firefighters will be eligible for 25% hazard pay in connection with work on prescribed burns.
Pay & Benefits
Lawsuit seeks to enforce 2025 SCOTUS decision improving pay for feds called to active duty
In the 15 months since the Supreme Court ruled that federal workers who also serve as military reservists do not need to prove that an active duty deployment is “substantially connected” to a national emergency, OPM has yet to issue new guidance reflecting the new precedent.
Pay & Benefits
The state of play around the 2027 pay raise, or lack thereof
Thus far, neither chamber of Congress has put forth a plan that would override President Trump’s planned pay freeze for next year.
Pay & Benefits
NTEU asks Trump administration to ease telework rules as gas prices spike
The union also called for an increase in gas reimbursement rates as the president’s war against Iran continues to disrupt the world’s oil supply.
Pay & Benefits
House GOP on Trump’s 2027 pay freeze: ‘That’s politics’
Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee last week beat back multiple attempts to increase federal workers’ pay next year and restore their workplace rights.
Pay & Benefits
OPM proposes hazard pay for more federal firefighting activities
Under recently unveiled regulations, federal wildland firefighters would be eligible for a 25% increase in pay when they work on prescribed burns, a proactive tool to mitigate the risk of wildfires.
Pay & Benefits
VA's failure to use its new authority to boost pay for doctors draws bipartisan criticism
Department officials, including those in the Trump administration, have long complained that legal pay caps are hurting retention and veteran care.
Updated
Pay & Benefits
Trump’s budget calls for 2027 pay freeze
Though the president’s fiscal 2027 budget proposal calls for a 7% pay raise for military service members, it fails to mention civilian federal employee compensation.
Pay & Benefits
Air traffic controller pay raise stalled by DHS shutdown
A House appropriations bill that previously authorized a 3.8% pay raise for air traffic controllers remains on hold as Senate Democrats continue to call for immigration policy reforms.
Pay & Benefits
Dem lawmakers propose 4.1% raise for feds in 2027
The annual reintroduction of the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates Act aims to set a baseline for negotiations around federal employee compensation for the coming year.
Pay & Benefits
Lawmakers propose 35% pay raise for federal prison workers
Bipartisan legislation would establish a special pay rate for employees at the U.S. Bureau of Prisons until the agency reduces its reliance on mandatory overtime and augmentation of support staff’s duties.
Pay & Benefits
OPM finalizes 3.8% raise for federal law enforcement
The additional 2.8% pay increase set aside for law enforcement personnel takes the form of a special pay rate.
Pay & Benefits