Workforce

How the shutdown is making the air traffic controller shortage worse and leading to flight delays

The shutdown is deepening the FAA’s long-standing controller shortage, straining an already overextended workforce and disrupting air travel nationwide.

Management

Which agencies do Americans think are doing a good job?

Recent surveys have shown that how Republicans and Democrats view federal agencies has switched since Donald Trump became president again.

Updated Workforce

Trump’s promised shutdown layoffs lead to at least 4,200 cuts at seven agencies

More RIFs possible as the Trump administration is following through on its threat to leverage the shutdown to implement federal workforce reductions.

Workforce

Protecting federal prisons from shutdown benefits all of us

COMMENTARY | As the federal budget impasse wears on, Bureau of Prisons employees and programs are being further squeezed following a year of hiring freezes and critical vacancies going unfilled.

Pay & Benefits

Democrats float immediately paying feds working through shutdown as Congress again rejects bill to reopen government

In addition to the military, some senators say air traffic controllers and other civil servants should get their paychecks on time even as shutdown drags on.

Management

Cabinet leaders detail how the government shutdown is impacting their agencies

President Donald Trump on Thursday reiterated his threat that he would use the appropriations lapse to justify cutting “Democrat programs.”

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

What to expect while you’re expecting (your retirement benefit, that is)

The OPM director uses his weekly updates to detail efforts to replace paper applications, guide employees through the Online Retirement Application system, and address delays and data issues in retirement processing.

Workforce

Hundreds of DHS staff face reassignments to border security, immigration

Affected workers — including people in the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency — have been given a week to respond or risk termination from federal service.

Management

Federal employee appeals board gets quorum after Senate confirms new member

Congressional Democrats also introduced legislation that would allow federal employees to file appeals in a civil court if the Merit Systems Protection Board is backlogged.

Workforce

Air traffic control staffing steady, but stress during shutdown worries DOT

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that staff absenteeism in the nation's aviation system is a concern, but added that the current effects are limited.

Workforce

How Trump’s OPM director wants to attract tech talent after months of workforce cuts

OPM Director Scott Kupor wants to bring on new feds with cutting edge skills, but the government’s recent flood of layoffs and resignations could complicate that effort. With a government shutdown ongoing, too, the administration is threatening more layoffs.

Exclusive Workforce

On Tuesday, the Trump admin said furloughed feds were not guaranteed back pay. On Wednesday, it sent notices saying they were

Just one day after taking a different argument, the Trump administration notes federal law guarantees back pay for employees sent home during a shutdown.

Pay & Benefits

Revived bill aims to ease financial strain on federal employees during shutdown

Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., has reintroduced legislation by former Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., that would require regulators to issue new guidance to help prevent financial hardship for federal employees and contractors caused by budget impasse.

Workforce

Federal employees crowdsource resources to support each other during shutdown

Several nonprofits and state and local governments are offering assistance to civil servants due to the lapse in federal funding.

Pay & Benefits

Trump administration’s claims against automatic furloughed worker backpay lack legal, historical basis

Experts say the White House’s new theory that the 2019 Government Employee Fair Treatment Act does not guarantee feds backpay following a shutdown fails a basic tenet of legal analysis.

Workforce

Homeland Security intelligence office sent deferred resignation offers to shed staff in recent months

The DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis is working to incrementally reduce the size of its workforce, following plans for mass cuts that faced severe pushback from stakeholders over the summer.

Updated Pay & Benefits

OMB deletes reference to law guaranteeing backpay to furloughed feds from shutdown guidance

An Office of Management and Budget FAQ document now states that only excepted employees forced to work without pay are guaranteed backpay at the conclusion of a lapse in appropriations.