Pay & Benefits
OPM faces its first test of recent retirement processing tweaks
The number of new retirement claims received by the federal government’s HR agency doubled in January, marking the start of the annual busy season.
Workforce
Trump’s civil service plans unsettle labor leaders at start of campaign season
Lawmakers and leaders of the American Federation of Government Employees warned that the former president represents a “threat to democracy” at the union’s annual legislative conference.
Management
OPM to tweak draft dodging rules, delegate investigations to agencies
The federal HR agency said its new plan for investigating when a federal job applicant failed to register for the draft will give applicants a better—and faster—chance to explain themselves.
Oversight
Senate finance chair calls for inspector general’s ouster
Sen. Ron Wyden on Thursday urged President Biden to remove Social Security Administration Inspector General Gail Ennis after a series of controversies and allegations of whistleblower retaliation.
Pay & Benefits
Identity theft protection for OPM hack victims could extend for life under new bill
Under current law, the benefit for those whose personal information was exposed by the 2015 data breach is set to expire in 2026.
Pay & Benefits
Lawmakers urge OPM to update parental leave policy docs
The federal government’s HR agency’s self-imposed deadline of the end of 2024 to ensure the federal employee handbook and public-facing web pages reflect the enactment of 12 weeks of paid parental leave should be “a floor and not a ceiling.”
Workforce
OPM offers guidance for agencies implementing salary history ban
Federal agencies will have until October to excise the solicitation and use of job candidates’ past compensation when setting pay for new hires.
Workforce
O’Malley reduces telework for Social Security HQ, regional office staff
The new commissioner outlined a plan to create “core collaboration days” for members of management, while most frontline workers are seemingly spared from the cuts.
Pay & Benefits
Federal retirement savings plan opens 2024 with a mixed bag
Only two of the five core funds within the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings plan posted gains last month.
Pay & Benefits
Biden administration to extend salary history ban to federal contractors
Officials said that new proposed regulations, released in conjunction with a final rule barring federal agencies from soliciting job applicants’ salary histories, will reduce pay disparities and improve the effectiveness of the federal contract workforce.
Pay & Benefits
Feds get 7.4% pay raise under congressional Democrats' plan
Despite two years of federal employees receiving the highest pay increases in decades, the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates Act’s sponsors say the federal workforce continues to suffer from “chronic underinvestment.”
Management
Archives clear pandemic-era backlog of veterans records requests
A combination of increased staffing and work hours, along with technological advances, allowed the National Personnel Records Center to dig out of backlog of more than 600,000 overdue records requests that accumulated due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pay & Benefits
GAO: 4% of feds used paid parental leave in the benefit’s first 22 months
In 2022, 81% of federal workers who responded to an annual Office of Personnel Management survey and said they used the then-newly implemented program said they took all 12 weeks of paid parental leave.
Management
Senators unveil bipartisan bill to improve security at federal buildings
Legislation requiring agencies to respond to recommendations from the Federal Protective Service within 90 days, after a GAO investigation and congressional hearings revealed the vast majority of security recommendations go ignored.
Oversight
GAO: Agencies need to trust each other’s background check processes
An array of technical and cultural challenges plague the federal government’s ability to OK the transfer of federal employees across agencies, the government watchdog found.
Pay & Benefits
GSA could soon update some relocation expense reimbursement caps more regularly
It’s been more than a decade since the agency updated the maximum amounts of payments for miscellaneous relocation expenses that don’t require itemized receipts.
Workforce
Interior officials defend department’s approach to telework
After Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., accused the Interior Department of “abusing” telework, department leaders revealed that more than half of their workforce works in person every day, and those who do telework have experienced increased productivity, retention and employee engagement.
Management
Senate panel advances watchdog, labor nominees
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee favorably reported four nominees for adjudicative agencies recently hamstrung by vacancy-related case backlogs to the Senate floor for final consideration.
Management
Biden’s chief diversity officer is headed to the private sector
Janice Underwood, who serves as the governmentwide chief diversity officer and as director of the Office of Personnel Management’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility office, will be vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion talent outreach and development at Disney.
Workforce
Biden nominates OSC deputy to join FLRA
Biden’s previous choice to fill the last spot on the Federal Labor Relations Authority quietly withdrew from consideration last fall.
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