Author Archive

Erich Wagner

Erich Wagner

Erich Wagner is a senior correspondent covering pay, benefits, organized labor and other federal workforce issues. He joined Government Executive in the spring of 2017 after extensive experience writing about state and local issues in Maryland and Virginia, most recently as editor-in-chief of the Alexandria Times. He holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Maryland.
Erich Wagner is a senior correspondent covering pay, benefits, organized labor and other federal workforce issues. He joined Government Executive in the spring of 2017 after extensive experience writing about state and local issues in Maryland and Virginia, most recently as editor-in-chief of the Alexandria Times. He holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Maryland.
Workforce

Employee groups challenge ‘favorite EO’ question as agencies begin rollout

Experts warn that the Trump administration’s new essay questionnaire for most federal job applicants amount to a litmus test to politicize agency hiring.

Workforce

OPM recommends telework, other flexibilities for D.C.-area feds ahead of military parade

The Trump administration previously took pains to end the regular use of telework by federal workers earlier this year.

Workforce

Federal workforce advocates flood opposition to renewed Schedule F

With just a day remaining before the deadline to submit comments on the Trump administration’s proposed Schedule F regulations, the vast majority of more than 30,000 submissions were opposed to the measure.

Pay & Benefits

Oversight Dems: Commerce reneged on probationers’ health benefits

Some recently fired probationary workers have also been unable to access their personnel records to show to insurance companies and prospective employers.

Workforce

Appeals court: Has Trump neutered the Civil Service Reform Act?

A three-judge panel on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals revived a lawsuit challenging the gag order on federal immigration judges in light of the president’s decision to fire the U.S. special counsel and members of the Merit Systems Protection Board.

Workforce

Federal judge blocks dissolution of union at TSA

Though the Transportation Security Administration has broad latitude to design and administer its own personnel system, U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman found its contract with AFGE to be a “self-imposed restriction” on that power.

Exclusive Workforce

Lynch: OPM’s hiring plan includes ‘blatant loyalty test’

The Trump administration last week unveiled its new ‘Merit Hiring Plan’ that in part quizzes job applicants about their favorite Trump policy or executive order.

Pay & Benefits

TSP funds rebound following months of losses

Only one portfolio in the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program finished May in the red.

Pay & Benefits

Trump’s fiscal 2026 budget would strip trans federal workers of insurance coverage

If enacted, the provision would bar the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program from covering federal employees and their family members’ gender affirming care treatments.

Workforce

OPM ‘merit’ hiring plan includes bipartisan reforms, politicized new test

The federal government’s HR agency on Thursday instructed agencies to cease collecting data on the demographic makeup of their workforces.

Workforce

TSA union urges judge to block ‘retaliatory’ order outlawing bargaining at agency

An attorney representing the Trump administration argued that U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman did not have jurisdiction to hear the case and described the administration’s approach to labor groups as “a different management style.”

Pay & Benefits

House passes reconciliation bill that cuts federal employee retirement benefits

Though Democrats were able to excise a plan to base federal retirees’ annuity payments on their highest five years of salary, rather than the current high-3, proposals to eliminate the FERS supplement and to charge employees for their civil service protections remain on the table.

Workforce

Judges issue promising rulings for groups fighting Trump’s anti-union order

A federal judge in Kentucky tossed the Trump administration’s bid to secure a court victory prior to formally rescinding union contracts under the guise of national security, while another jurist sought new avenues to potentially block the March executive order’s implementation.

Workforce

Agencies’ effort to unwind project labor agreement requirements ‘flatly contradict’ order establishing them, judge says

The Trump administration had sought to neutralize a Biden-era executive order requiring contractors to negotiate with unions ahead of major construction projects with broad exceptions, something specifically barred by the underlying order.

Pay & Benefits

Retirement cuts tweaked in House reconciliation package

The latest draft of the GOP’s plan to cut federal spending to pay for tax cuts and increased immigration enforcement no longer un-grandfathers federal workers hired before 2014 from increased retirement contribution rules passed in the 2010s and delays implementation of the FERS supplement.

Workforce

Appeals court issues stay of judge’s decision blocking Trump’s anti-union order

The Trump administration may recommence stripping the union rights of two-thirds of the federal workforce, for now.

Workforce

A judge has moved again to block Trump’s anti-union EO

Just weeks after issuing a preliminary injunction to block an edict aimed at stripping two-thirds of the federal workforce of its collective bargaining rights, U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman issued a similar decision as it relates to U.S. Foreign Service officers.

Pay & Benefits

House GOP’s law enforcement ‘exemption’ from retirement cuts is illusory, groups say

A pair of organizations representing federal law enforcement officers urged lawmakers to strengthen carveouts of an array of proposed cuts to federal workers’ retirement benefits but stopped short of calling for their withdrawal.

Workforce

Congressional Dems urge rescission of Schedule F regulations

Though the Office of Personnel Management has estimated around 50,000 federal employees, or 2% of the workforce, would be stripped of their civil service protections under the controversial initiative, lawmakers warned a failure to define "policy-related” positions will cause far more to become at-will employees.

Pay & Benefits

OPM touts ‘fully paperless’ retirement application, though concerns remain

Sources warn that the Trump administration has overstated both DOGE’s role in developing online retirement applications and its potential impact on the retirement process.