Pay & Benefits
OPM taps insurance carriers to service new USPS benefits exchange
The federal HR agency conditionally selected 32 carrier applications to provide health coverage to U.S. Postal employees, annuitants and family members starting in 2025.
Pay & Benefits
Veterans Affairs expands IVF access to unmarried and same-sex veterans
Up to now, the VA has only provided IVF care for married veterans who were able to use their own eggs or sperm during the process, but the new announcement allows veterans to use donor eggs, sperm and embryos.
Workforce
FLRA: CBP owes backpay to officers denied nightwork premium pay
The chairwoman of the body that oversees federal sector labor issues also expressed an openness to revisiting the legal definition of repudiating a union contract.
Pay & Benefits
The Postal Service Health Benefits program, prescription coverage and Open Season 2025
The federal health care enrollment period is months away, but you can start preparing now.
Pay & Benefits
OPM makes it easier for ex-military feds to access paid parental, medical leave
The tweak, which allows federal workers to count past military service toward the 12-month service requirement of parental and Family and Medical Leave Act leave, stems from a provision of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act.
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.”
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.
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.
Pay & Benefits
A new rule allows the VA to adjust disability compensation to prevent overpayments
The rule, set to go into effect on Jan. 11, would allow the department to suspend or pause disability compensation for Defense Department servicemembers also receiving active service pay.
Pay & Benefits
Planning a career change in 2024?
If a new career outside of the federal workforce is on your list of resolutions, here are a few things you need to know about your benefits.
Pay & Benefits
Expanded leave access for veteran feds makes it into defense policy bill
Under a provision of the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, federal agencies would be required to incorporate veterans’ military service when determining eligibility for paid leave.
Workforce
Feds are unlikely to get an extra day off at Christmas
With Christmas Day falling on a Monday this year, odds are against federal workers receiving additional time off for Christmas Eve.
Pay & Benefits
Last-minute Open Season advice
Tips and tools to help you with decision-making before the window closes for the year.
Pay & Benefits
Open Season: Medicare Advantage or Disadvantage?
Medicare Advantage options have only been offered through Federal Employees Health Benefits Program carriers since 2021 and may provide benefits that are not covered under traditional Medicare.
Pay & Benefits
Open Season: You really ought to review your new benefit choices for 2024
Make sure the plan you have from last year is still the one that makes sense for you.
Pay & Benefits
Open Season and tax savings
Spending a few hours reviewing your options for 2024, may save you a few hundred or even a few thousand dollars next year.
Pay & Benefits
TSP board OKs new international fund index, this time without China
A previous effort to move the I Fund to a broader benchmark index, which included investments in Chinese corporations, met opposition from the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers.
Pay & Benefits
Flexible Spending Account contribution limits to increase in 2024
FSAs can be an essential way to save money on health care costs.
Pay & Benefits
Veterans’ health care coverage expanded by the Biden administration
The VA will create new programs meant to make care more accessible.
Pay & Benefits
An Open Season checklist for active federal employees
Tips for saving money on health care and to help guide you through the process of choosing a plan in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.
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