Author Archive
Workforce
Federal job listings provide clues for next set of Schedule P/C conversions
New analysis from the Partnership for Public Service reveals that agencies have begun advertising positions as Schedule Policy/Career or planned for the at-will job category.
Workforce
Archives workers granted telework ahead of D.C. IndyCar race
But a union representing employees at the National Archives’ headquarters said the measure should extend past this weekend, as the building is beset by temporary construction associated with the race.
Pay & Benefits
Bill expanding paid leave for feds is pared back in Senate
The upper chamber’s version of legislation extending 12 weeks of paid family leave each year to federal workers removes provisions allowing it to be used in connection with helping a family member who has been the victim of sexual assault, domestic violence or stalking.
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.
Workforce
IRS says a new policy ‘moots’ NTEU’s First Amendment lawsuit. The union isn’t so sure
A new policy allows only “agency-sponsored materials” to be posted on communal office bulletin boards, but agency officials still say they have discretion to approve or deny other documents.
Workforce
Judge rejects VA’s third attempt to cancel union contracts
U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose OK'd a motion to enforce her prior preliminary injunction preserving collective bargaining at the Veterans Affairs Department on the eve of its planned termination of a collective bargaining agreement with AFGE.
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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.
Workforce
Mediation agency changes how labor disputes move forward
The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service says it is clarifying when it can decline to provide arbitrators, a change unions say exceeds its role.
Pay & Benefits
TSP investments continued to tumble in July
Nearly all of the portfolios in the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program lost value last month.
Pay & Benefits
LGBTQ+ feds sue to restore FEHB coverage of gender affirming care
A class action lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s campaign to block gender affirming care coverage under federal agencies’ employer-sponsored health insurance program said the move is “akin to denying continuing insulin treatment for someone with diabetes.”
Workforce
OPM finalizes rules expanding its power over RIFs, employee appeals
Taken together, four regulations set for publication Monday would shift adjudication of several types of adverse action appeals from the Merit Systems Protection Board to the Office of Personnel Management.
Workforce
VA’s third attempt to scrap union contract heads back to court
The Veterans Affairs Department says it is following the terms of an expiring agreement. AFGE argues VA is ignoring a requirement to keep the contract in place during negotiations.
Workforce
AFGE sues over EEOC’s apparent shutdown of class action cases against agencies
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chairwoman Andrea Lucas surreptitiously ordered a halt on all class-action proceedings in which a federal agency is a defendant last December, despite regulations requiring such cases be handled “promptly.”
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Oversight
Dem senators demand answers on SSA field office closures despite Bisignano’s vow
Just weeks after the Social Security commissioner falsely accused his predecessor of turning away members of the public, lawmakers say Bisignano has done just that.
Pay & Benefits
NARFE still has concerns with OPM’s plan to collect employee health care records
Last month, the Office of Personnel Management sought to assuage concerns about its request for claims-level data on federal workers’ health insurance usage. Employee groups say it’s still not enough.
Management
USPS nominations test the future of bipartisan boards
Federal law requires that no more than five members of USPS’ Board of Governors be from the same political party. The Trump administration has only submitted Republican nominees so far.
Workforce
Unions ask for injunction restoring collective bargaining at Defense
The latest filing from a pair of federal employee unions highlights the ways in which the Pentagon strayed from the Trump administration’s own guidance for implementing the president’s executive order banning collective bargaining at most agencies on national security grounds.
Pay & Benefits
OPM moves to implement long-awaited retirement fix for federal first responders
The First Responders Fair RETIRE Act, which ensures federal workers can stay on accelerated mandatory retirement schedules even if they transfer to another due to injury, was signed into law in 2022.
Workforce
Arbitrator restores telework for IRS workers
The Internal Revenue Service withdrew from participating in the National Treasury Employees Union’s grievance against the agency for its 2025 return-to-office push in March, forcing independent arbitrator Christopher Shulman to conduct proceedings with management in absentia.
