Author Archive
Oversight
Congressional Dems demand info on revised workforce survey
As the traditional spring solicitation window closes, the public remains in the dark as to when the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey will be administered and what questions it will ask.
Workforce
Unions urge court to force ruling in ‘loyalty question’ lawsuit
Three months after a hearing on whether to block federal agencies from asking four politicized essay questions of every federal job applicant, a federal judge still has not issued a decision.
Workforce
In rare move, full appeals court agrees to hear case challenging Trump’s ‘Article II’ firings
Federal circuit courts typically hear cases via randomized three-judge panels, reserving review by the entire judicial bench for its most important cases.
Management
GOP’s VA overhaul bill narrows some employees’ rights, spurs privatization, union says
The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act also would cut some vets’ disability benefits and push the Veterans Affairs Department to bring back telework in some form.
Workforce
NTEU sues IRS over destruction of employees’ pro-union decorations
The Internal Revenue Service last month issued a directive barring employees from posting flyers and other decorations related to the National Treasury Employees Union, which the union says violates the First Amendment.
Pay & Benefits
Expanding paid leave for federal workers is back on the table
Bipartisan legislation would grant civilian federal employees up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave per year.
Management
Bisignano deflects customer service questions in congressional testimony
The Social Security commissioner frequently tried to shout over Democratic lawmakers during the occasionally raucous hearing.
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Workforce
NDA proposal for feds draws scrutiny on Capitol Hill
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorth, D-Ill., expressed “serious concern” about the Office of Personnel Management’s controversial proposal, including its impact on whistleblowers and employees who report wrongdoing.
Workforce
Union renews call for lawmakers to override Trump’s anti-union EO at the Pentagon
Last year, the House voted to pass its annual defense policy bill with a provision that would have halted implementation of President Trump’s executive order banning collective bargaining at the Defense Department and other agencies, but the Senate axed the measure.
Workforce
Trump’s edict making 8,000 feds at-will employees draws swift outcry
Agencies have just one week to reclassify thousands of federal workers in purportedly policy-related roles into the new Schedule Policy/Career, stripping them of most civil service protections.
Workforce
Trump signs order moving thousands of federal employees into Schedule F
Roughly 8,000 career federal employees were stripped of their civil service protections Wednesday, making them effectively at-will employees.
Pay & Benefits
OPM to set new requirements to ‘verify’ FEHBP enrollments
Newly published regulations would implement a 2025 law enacted in response to a GAO report that found the government could spend up to $1 billion annually on health benefits for people who are no longer eligible to receive them.
Pay & Benefits
TSP funds kept climbing in May
Each of the portfolios in the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program gained value last month.
Workforce
OPM moves to allow agencies to promote workers faster
Officials said the nearly 80-year-old requirement that federal employees serve in their current positions for at least one year before they may be promoted is “outdated.”
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Workforce
Supreme Court rejects lower court bid to review immigration judge gag order
Justices reversed an appeals court decision that would have greenlit a fact-finding expedition into whether President Trump had effectively nullified review of personnel policies under the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act.
Workforce
OPM proposes requiring all feds to sign an NDA
Experts warned the measure, when combined with the federal HR agency’s new power to target employees’ suitability for federal employment, creates a new pathway for Trump administration officials to purge those deemed insufficiently loyal to the president.
Pay & Benefits
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.
Workforce
Appeals court upholds order reinstating VA’s union contracts
A unanimous three-judge panel found that only a district judge’s requirement that the Veterans Affairs Department “comply” with its collective bargaining agreements should be put on hold while litigation proceeds.
Workforce
House GOP probes agency settlements with federal workers
Republican members of the House Oversight and Reform Committee argued agencies should settle less often with feds who allege prohibited personnel practices, but experts say the government acts similarly to private sector litigants.
Workforce
Feds wary of skills-based hiring survey after 15 months of attacks
The combination of a lack of outreach around a newly deployed survey of federal workers’ skillsets with the recent flood of layoffs, purges and reorganizations has made some reluctant to participate in the bipartisan initiative.
