Pay & Benefits
Congress, employees still await details of Defense personnel system
Defense officials tell Senators that more information will emerge during upcoming "meet and confer" period.
Management
Shift to moon-Mars focus affects 2,680 NASA jobs
About 15 percent of civil service workforce will be transferred or paid to leave by end of fiscal 2006.
Pay & Benefits
Meet and Confer
Federal personnel officials will get together with union negotiators Thursday to iron out the details of the meet and confer period.
Pay & Benefits
House chairman opposes retiree pre-tax health premium bill
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., is a powerful voice against a bill that could save federal retirees an average of $400 annually.
Defense
DHS employee appeals go to the top of the pile
Merit Systems Protection Board officials say provisions in the new Homeland Security personnel system require the agency to start giving priority to its cases.
Pay & Benefits
Bill on retiree health insurance premiums could stall again
Early optimism for premium conversion legislation has not spread to the House Ways and Means Committee.
Defense
Military weapons vs. benefits issue heats up at hearing
Pentagon official notes DoD plans to spend $130 billion of its $419 billion fiscal 2006 budget request on military personnel and health care.
Pay & Benefits
Pick Your Fights
Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., told union members Wednesday that the Bush administration is trying to do away with collective bargaining.
Pay & Benefits
Pre-tax health premium bill for retirees surfaces again in Congress
A leading Republican senator says he will not rest until the bill is passed.
Pay & Benefits
Retirement wave falls short of OPM projections
Number of hires not keeping pace with vacancies, however.
Management
Davis cautious on civil service reform
House Government Reform Committee chairman says White House has "a long way to go" to make case for governmentwide reform.
Pay & Benefits
Three locality pay areas dropped for 2006
The president’s pay agent also decided to add three new areas next year.
Pay & Benefits
EPA employees report problems with pay system
Agency says any new system will have challenges, but problems with paychecks are rare.
Pay & Benefits
Overhaul Objections
A coalition of unions has filed a lawsuit in an effort to force the Defense Department to start over with its personnel reform effort.
Pay & Benefits
Bush's A-list: Who gets the top salaries?
A rundown on the senior White House aides who get the much-coveted title of "assistant to the president" and the top West Wing pay.
Pay & Benefits
Report: TSP needs to assess customer service
TSP managers focus on quantitative measures rather than assessments of the quality of service provided.
Pay & Benefits
Limited Support
Even among Republicans on Capitol Hill, the Bush administration’s push for sweeping personnel reform still has only qualified backing.
Defense
Senator urges go-slow approach to personnel reform
Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, wants to see the results of efforts at Homeland Security and Defense before taking reform governmentwide.
Defense