Employee Policy
Census servers hacked in 2020
A watchdog report indicates that aging remote-access servers at the Census Bureau were successfully targeted by hackers in early 2020, using a known vulnerability -- and while no data was stolen, the incident revealed flaws in the bureau's cybersecurity response.
Employee Policy
WH orders software protection compliance
The Office of Management and Budget has directed agencies to comply with software supply chain security measures, as set out in a May 2021 cybersecurity executive order.
Employee Policy
VA mandates vaccination for clinical staff
VA Secretary Denis McDonough cited the spread of the Delta variant of COVID-19 as a factor in ordering the new vaccination policy.
Employee Policy
OPM: Ahuja confirmed as director
Kiran Ahuja has been confirmed as director at OPM, with V.P. Kamala Harris casting the tiebreaking vote in the Senate.
Pay
USCIS calls off furloughs of 13,000 workers
The planned furloughs of more than 13,000 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services employees set for Aug. 30 have been cancelled, the agency announced today.
Employee Policy
GAO stands by finding that top DHS appointments were illegal
The Government Accountability Office is sticking to its guns on its legal opinion that states that top officials at the Department Homeland Security were elevated in violation of federal law.
Employee Policy
AFGE backs Harris for VP
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) has a long record supporting federal union issues and looking to check the power of government and private sector tech surveillance.
Employee Policy
Bipartisan Senate bill extends federal telework for duration of the pandemic
The Pandemic Federal Telework Act of 2020 is designed to support telework for any federal job that can be done remotely, while providing management and tech support for teleworking employees.
Employee Policy
Union complaint of 'resistance' talk in the federal workplace dismissed
The American Federation of Government Employees had complained an Office of Special Counsel advisory was chilling federal employees' speech.
Employee Policy
TVA walks back plans to fire U.S. tech workers
The federally owned power company called the plan to fire workers and outsource IT operations as a "disappointing misstep" after the president blasted the move.
Employee Policy
Trump fires TVA chairman over foreign contractors
The federally owned power company is rethinking plans to fire its internal IT staff and shift to managed services in light of Trump's intervention and a new executive order on federal contracting.
Employee Policy
Senators propose labor-management task forces on COVID policiies
A group of Senate Democrats is proposing legislation to create labor-management task forces inside government to review pandemic-related workforce policies.
Employee Policy
Union pleads for USCIS funding as furloughs loom
The immigration agency is seeking $1.2 billion to keep employees working through an anticipated financial shortfall it links to the pandemic.
Employee Policy
Senior execs detail OPM modernization tactics
As part of a plan to revitalize federal employment, the Senior Executives Association is looking to take the government's top human resources official out of the political fray with a 5- to 8-year appointment.
Employee Policy
Trump taps HUD official to lead OPM
The candidate to serve as the nation's top human resources official has a background in computer science and software development, and a controversial record as a conservative commentator.
Retirement
Trump names 3 replacements for TSP board
President Donald Trump nominated three new candidates to replace Obama-era officials on the five-member board that manages the Thrift Savings Plan of federal employees and retirees.
Employee Policy
White House meat processing order sweeps up inspectors
The executive order declaring meat processing plants as critical infrastructure means that federal food inspectors must visit plants that had been closed by their owners for safety reasons.
Employee Policy
Recalled IRS staff told to bring their own PPE
The tax agency is putting distancing measures into place and requiring employees to bring their own face coverings to work until facilities can procure personal protective equipment for employees.
Employee Policy