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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
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.
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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.
Management
Bisignano to lead IRS in addition to SSA duties, raising questions about the Senate confirmation process
Experts warned that the move could further facilitate the consolidation of Social Security and IRS databases for use in immigration enforcement.
Pay & Benefits
Democrats introduce bill to ease TSP withdrawals, loans during shutdowns
The Emergency Relief for Federal Workers Act would clarify that lapses in appropriations qualify federal workers to take a hardship withdrawal from the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program and eliminate the associated 10% penalty in those instances.
Workforce
RIF threat sparks union lawsuit as shutdown continues
AFGE and AFSCME argued that an Office of Management and Budget memo instructing agencies to launch mass layoffs during the government shutdown violate the Antideficiency Act and most agencies’ own authorizing statutes.
Pay & Benefits
TSP funds continue to tick upward in September
For a second consecutive month, all of the funds in the Thrift Savings Plan increased in value.
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Workforce
Judge blocks Trump’s anti-union executive order for IFPTE-represented workers
U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman said the president “clearly” exceeded his authority when issuing an edict stripping two-thirds of the federal workforce of its collective bargaining rights.
Workforce
Bureau of Prisons the latest federal agency to cancel its union contracts
Labor leaders said the effort to bust their union is particularly ill-timed, given the prospect of a government shutdown that could begin as soon as Wednesday.
Workforce
Federal appellate decision restores union rights for Defense Department teachers
A three-judge panel on Thursday found that the Trump administration failed to meet its burden in requesting a stay of an injunction blocking the union-busting of the Pentagon’s corps of teachers on military bases.
Oversight
GAO: Forest Service upgrades to wildfire communications and tracking imperiled by Trump’s workforce downsizing
The U.S. Forest Service neither agreed nor disagreed with a recommendation to develop a strategic plan for upgrading systems to track wildfire fighting resources, instead taking issue with the title of the government watchdog’s report.
Workforce
Labor groups warn of ‘gaping hole’ in First Amendment if court OKs Trump’s anti-union orders
The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will reexamine a prior decision allowing the White House’s effort to strip two-thirds of the federal workforce of their collective bargaining rights to go into effect.
Pay & Benefits
Your guide to pay and benefits during a shutdown
A lapse in appropriations looked likely after Senate Democrats rejected a plan to keep federal agencies open past Sept. 30, while the House is not expected to return to Washington until next month.
Workforce
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.
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Workforce
Bill to nullify Trump’s union executive orders introduced by 48 senators
All Senate Democrats and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, have signed on as sponsors of the Protect America’s Workforce Act, while the measure is just two signatures away from guaranteed floor debate in the House.
Pay & Benefits
Lawmakers sound alarm on administration of USPS health care program
The Office of Personnel Management still has less than half of the IT staff needed to support postal workers’ employer-sponsored health insurance program as it prepares for its second-ever open season this fall.
Workforce
House NDAA would exempt Defense civilians from union ban
Union officials said Friday that a discharge petition Is just two signatures shy of the 218 needed to force a floor vote on legislation to undo President Trump’s executive order barring collective bargaining at most federal agencies.
Workforce
Unions urge VA to restore bargaining ahead of deadline
President Trump’s order extending a ban on collective bargaining to additional agencies opened the door for more labor groups to continue representing employees at the Veterans Affairs and Defense departments.
Management
OPM implements years-in-the-making update to federal hiring process
The "rule of many" aims to give federal hiring managers more information and choices as they evaluate job candidates.
Management
Social Security announces leadership team light on government experience
The agency’s new leadership roster — announced alongside a reorganization plan sources say is short on details — is intended to bring a fresh perspective into SSA, its commissioner said. Critics argue they lack the expertise usually required of most agency leaders.
