Author Archive
Pay & Benefits
To fix air traffic controller shortage, Congress proposes changing retirement limits
The Control Tower Continuity Act would help address the ongoing staff shortfall of 3,000 positions by exempting personnel from mandatory retirement at age 61.
Pay & Benefits
Retirement board finalizes new rule on how debt is calculated for some TSP loans
The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board will put into effect a final rule recalculating how federal employees repay accrued interest on reamortized loans from the government’s 401(k)-style retirement plan.
Workforce
Following impoundments threat, new bill wants senior execs to get appropriations training, or else
Legislation from Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, seeks to ensure that select members of the executive branch get annual training on the budget process or face a possible suspension of financial decision making for their agency.
Pay & Benefits
New pay claims for active-duty federal employees possible after Supreme Court decision
An April decision by the justices means that federal employees called up to active service could be eligible for differential pay, and that the Merit Systems Protections Board could receive a wave of new claims.
Pay & Benefits
Senators fix their sights on OPM’s pay memo for political appointees
Eight Democrats decried recent guidance encouraging agencies to pay Schedule C political appointees the maximum federal salary of $195,200 as an attempt to hire “underqualified and overpaid political elites.”
Pay & Benefits
Kaptur reintroduces legislation to expand Gold Star survivors benefits, Neguse wants to offer vets firefighter training
The Ohio congresswoman brought back her bill to lower health care costs for fallen service members’ partners for longer, while Rep. Neguse wants to offer veterans more job support.
Oversight
GAO: Transportation Department can’t withhold electric vehicle infrastructure program funds
The Government Accountability Office determined that the DOT and the Federal Highway Administration ran afoul of the Impoundment Control Act when they suspended appropriations for the Biden-era grant program.
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Pay & Benefits
Senator says VA is slow-footing benefits law, congresswoman wants a watchdog for Thrift Investment Board
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., has brought back legislation that would create an inspector general for the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, while the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s ranking member argues the department is too slow in implementing legislation.
Pay & Benefits
VA moves survivors’ help office, again, to make it easier to get benefits
The department is seeking to reverse a 2021 decision by the Biden administration that placed the Office of Survivors Assistance under the Veterans Benefits Administration.
Pay & Benefits
New rule would change the reamortized debt formula for Thrift Savings Plan loans
A proposed rule from the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board could recalculate how federal employees repay accrued interest on loans from the government’s 401(k)-style retirement plan.
Pay & Benefits
House legislation seeks to add protections for probationary employees
A bill from a newly-minted representative from Maryland is one of several proposed bills in response to the ongoing federal workforce reductions.
Pay & Benefits
Efforts to boost VA recruitment and promote BOP mental health get another push from House members
A pair of House bills seek to address personnel challenges within the Veterans Affairs Department and the Bureau of Prisons by offering new incentives and additional screenings, respectively.
Pay & Benefits
Stopgap bill includes permanent pay raises for firefighters
Federal wildland firefighters secured new special salary pay tables at all levels through the six-month continuing resolution package after Congress spent 2024 averting numerous pay cliffs.
Pay & Benefits
A pair of House bills aim to give fired feds relief
Legislation from Reps. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., and Derek Tran, D-Calif., seeks to secure benefits for federal employees recently fired by the Trump administration and help get some of their jobs back.
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Management
Labor board member retires, leaving a razor-thin quorum
The Merit Systems Protection Board said in a statement that board member Raymond Limon was stepping down on Friday. His retirement leaves the agency with a two-seat quorum despite an ongoing legal battle with the Trump administration.
Pay & Benefits
Bipartisan bill returns to help feds and postal workers close retirement gap
A bipartisan group is again pitching legislation that would allow some federal and postal employees who began their careers as temporary workers to contribute to their federal retirement accounts for those years.
Workforce
Trump administration environmental justice removals cut across agencies
Agencies leaders placed nearly 200 on administrative leave as they wound down programs at the Justice and Energy departments and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Transition
Breakneck pace of executive orders and lagging, unclear guidance leave contractors guessing
The Professional Services Council president and CEO said that contractors may not know the criteria spending programs are being reviewed under or who’s doing them while they wait.
Management
VA wants hiring freeze exemptions for 300,000 roles
The acting Veterans Affairs secretary said in a Jan. 21 memo that the requested exemptions cover positions critical to the delivery of health care services.
Pay & Benefits
Feds affected by L.A. fires are eligible for paid leave transfers
OPM is allowing federal employees to donate their paid leave time to fellow feds impacted by the ongoing wildfires in California, a practice becoming more commonly deployed during increasing natural disasters.
