Pay & Benefits
Trump admin says feds should get at least most backpay by Nov. 19
GSA and OPM workers will be the first to see the first month’s work of pay—belayed by the 43-day government shutdown—with what the White House is calling a “super check” that should be delivered on Saturday.
Workforce
Nonprofit launches FEVS alternative after OPM’s cancellation of official survey
The Public Service Viewpoint Survey aims to at least partially fill the void left by the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, which OPM cancelled this year despite a legal requirement that it be administered annually.
Pay & Benefits
OPM’s retirement backlog skyrockets as deferred resignees begin offboarding
The federal government’s dedicated HR agency is sitting on the most pending retirement applications since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Oversight
SSA chief Bisignano faces probe from Wyden and Warren over Fiserv stock and federal contract concerns
The Social Security commissioner has come under fire in recent days as shares in his former company depreciated shortly after his tax-advantaged divestiture from the financial technology firm.
Workforce
Unions sue over ‘loyalty question’ for federal jobseekers
Earlier this year, the Office of Personnel Management added a series of essay questions to the federal hiring process, including one that asked jobseekers about their favorite Trump executive order or policy priority.
Workforce
Lawsuit offers new details of VA’s anti-union EO implementation
According to a legal challenge from AFGE’s National Veterans Affairs Council, VA Secretary Doug Collins failed to implement President Trump's executive orders aimed at ousting unions from most federal agencies when he issued exemptions to a handful of unions that had not challenged the administration in court.
Workforce
IBEW: Trump’s anti-union EOs target unions expressly protected by law
The collective bargaining rights of prevailing rate employees at the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Southwestern Power Agency and the Western Area Power Administration are set by a different law than the one that covers most other federal employees, a new lawsuit argues.
Pay & Benefits
Growth slowed in most TSP funds in October
Despite a slowing rate of return, last month still marked the third consecutive month in which all portfolios in the Thrift Savings Plan all increased in value.
Oversight
Bisignano draws scrutiny as his former company falters
Just months after the Social Security commissioner and Internal Revenue Service CEO divested nearly $600 million in Fiserv investments, the business’ stock value tanked more than 40% on the news that Bisignano had issued overly rosy earnings guidance.
Workforce
Federal employee groups want to reopen government. They disagree on how
While the nation’s largest federal employee union called for Congress to enact House Republicans’ short-term funding deal, another association for federal workers and retirees warned it isn’t as “clean” as proponents say.
Workforce
Nation’s largest federal employee union calls for 'clean CR' with backpay guarantee to reopen government
Labor leaders said Monday that a House-passed proposal to fund the government through mid-November with additional language guaranteeing furloughed workers’ backpay is “the best we’re going to get.”
Pay & Benefits
Cost-of-living adjustments will stay relatively static in 2026
Civil Service Retirement System retirees will see a 2.8% increase to their defined-benefit annuities next year, compared to just a 2% bump for Federal Employees Retirement System annuitants.
Pay & Benefits
Dueling plans to pay feds on-time fail in Senate, though a bipartisan path forward appears
Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., appeared to agree to negotiations Thursday afternoon on a plan to pay federal employees and potentially contractors amid the ongoing government shutdown.
Pay & Benefits
House Dems urge utilities to keep lights on for feds amid shutdown
With the prospect of their first full missed paycheck just days away, federal workers already are seeking outside support, whether via food banks or side jobs.
Workforce
SSA is denying excepted workers’ time off and telework requests, seemingly defying shutdown guidance
Though OPM guidance states that agencies should seek to accommodate the needs of excepted workers during lapses in appropriation, employees who have fallen ill or simply can no longer afford to commute without getting paid have been labeled AWOL and threatened with discipline.
Workforce
Trump’s latest order requires strategic plans reflective of presidential ‘priorities’ to resume hiring
While experts agree that agencies should seek to address new skills gaps created by the Trump administration’s efforts to downsize the federal workforce, language enshrining “administration priorities” into those plans could politicize hiring of career workers.
Pay & Benefits
Dems, Murkowski demand White House guarantee backpay for furloughed feds
The White House continues to insist that the 2019 Government Employees Fair Treatment Act does not guarantee backpay to furloughed federal workers after every shutdown.
Workforce
Legal challenges against Trump’s union EOs continue to proliferate
The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers has filed its second lawsuit seeking to block President Trump’s effort to strip collective bargaining rights from two-thirds of the federal workforce, this time on behalf of NASA workers.
Pay & Benefits
Federal and postal workers to see double-digit health care premium increases again next year
Federal employee groups decried the second consecutive year of premium increases eclipsing 10 percent amid a government shutdown and a proposed 1% pay raise for non-law enforcement personnel.
Pay & Benefits