Pay Raise
Lawmakers call on leadership to override Trump’s planned pay freeze
Members of both parties urged congressional leaders to “at minimum” authorize an across-the-board 3.8% pay raise for civilian federal employees, in line with President Trump’s supplemental pay increase planned only for law enforcement.
Air traffic controllers are still waiting on 2.8% of their congressionally approved pay raise
Federal Aviation Administrator Bryan Bedford says the agency needs to improve how it uses its existing workforce before he will release the rest of the increase.
Trump’s 2027 pay freeze has unions warning of recruitment, retention problems
Critics of President Trump’s plan to keep most federal employees’, save for federal law enforcement officers and military service members, pay at 2026 levels say it picks winners and losers.
Trump formally proposes pay freeze for most federal workers, 3.8% increase for law enforcement
In a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson, the president claimed that denying the federal workforce a pay raise will not hurt agency recruitment and retention efforts.
OPM finalizes expanded hazard pay for federal firefighters
Under regulations set to take effect next month, federal wildland firefighters will be eligible for 25% hazard pay in connection with work on prescribed burns.
Lawsuit seeks to enforce 2025 SCOTUS decision improving pay for feds called to active duty
In the 15 months since the Supreme Court ruled that federal workers who also serve as military reservists do not need to prove that an active duty deployment is “substantially connected” to a national emergency, OPM has yet to issue new guidance reflecting the new precedent.
The state of play around the 2027 pay raise, or lack thereof
Thus far, neither chamber of Congress has put forth a plan that would override President Trump’s planned pay freeze for next year.
NTEU asks Trump administration to ease telework rules as gas prices spike
The union also called for an increase in gas reimbursement rates as the president’s war against Iran continues to disrupt the world’s oil supply.
House GOP on Trump’s 2027 pay freeze: ‘That’s politics’
Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee last week beat back multiple attempts to increase federal workers’ pay next year and restore their workplace rights.
OPM proposes hazard pay for more federal firefighting activities
Under recently unveiled regulations, federal wildland firefighters would be eligible for a 25% increase in pay when they work on prescribed burns, a proactive tool to mitigate the risk of wildfires.
VA's failure to use its new authority to boost pay for doctors draws bipartisan criticism
Department officials, including those in the Trump administration, have long complained that legal pay caps are hurting retention and veteran care.
Updated
Trump’s budget calls for 2027 pay freeze
Though the president’s fiscal 2027 budget proposal calls for a 7% pay raise for military service members, it fails to mention civilian federal employee compensation.
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Air traffic controller pay raise stalled by DHS shutdown
A House appropriations bill that previously authorized a 3.8% pay raise for air traffic controllers remains on hold as Senate Democrats continue to call for immigration policy reforms.
Dem lawmakers propose 4.1% raise for feds in 2027
The annual reintroduction of the Federal Adjustment of Income Rates Act aims to set a baseline for negotiations around federal employee compensation for the coming year.
Lawmakers propose 35% pay raise for federal prison workers
Bipartisan legislation would establish a special pay rate for employees at the U.S. Bureau of Prisons until the agency reduces its reliance on mandatory overtime and augmentation of support staff’s duties.
OPM finalizes 3.8% raise for federal law enforcement
The additional 2.8% pay increase set aside for law enforcement personnel takes the form of a special pay rate.
Trump finalizes 1% pay raise for most feds
The president also tasked OPM Director Scott Kupor with analyzing whether to provide federal law enforcement officers with a 3.8% pay increase, in line with what military service members are set to receive next month.
Cost-of-living adjustments will stay relatively static in 2026
Civil Service Retirement System retirees will see a 2.8% increase to their defined-benefit annuities next year, compared to just a 2% bump for Federal Employees Retirement System annuitants.
Virginia lawmaker takes over advocacy for federal workforce bills
Rep. James Walkinshaw this week formally assumed lead sponsorship for a series of bills introduced each year by his predecessor, the late Rep. Gerry, Connolly, D-Va.
OPM lays out early plans for law enforcement-only pay raise
Federal employee groups decried President Trump’s plan to raise pay for most civilian employees by just 1% next year while giving military service members and law enforcement officers 3.8%.
Trump intends to give feds 1% pay raise with some law enforcement officers getting more
White House officials had previously suggested that there would be no increases to federal employees’ salaries in 2026.
