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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.
Management
Judge orders halt to the shuttering of three independent agencies
A federal judge found that the Trump administration violated the Constitution, the Administrative Procedure Act and federal spending laws when it ordered the stripping down of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and the Minority Business Development Agency to their “statutory minimums.”
Management
Senate confirms Bisignano to lead Social Security
In a party line vote, Senate Republicans elected to disregard a whistleblower’s allegation that Frank Bisignano had improper contact with the agency to facilitate DOGE operatives’ onboarding.
Pay & Benefits
Proposed retirement cuts cast renewed pall over deferred resignations
Federal workers who accepted President Trump and Elon Musk’s so-called ‘fork in the road’ fear Republicans have “pulled the rug out from under” their retirement plans.
Pay & Benefits
Domestic TSP funds continued to swoon in April
The federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program continued to produce a mixed bag for participants last month.
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Workforce
Connolly demands rescission of regulations reviving Schedule F
The top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee warned that politicization of the federal workforce will lead to more instances of “incompetence” in government.
Pay & Benefits