Workforce

For federal executives, retirement means losing more than a job

COMMENTARY | Retirement planning often focuses on benefits and finances. For senior federal employees, leaving government can also mean giving up a title, mission and professional identity, while agencies face the loss of decades of expertise.

Former pardon atty calls MSPB ‘a dead end,’ sues for reinstatement

Liz Oyer, who was fired from her position as pardon attorney last year over her refusal to recommend that Mel Gibson’s right to own a firearm be restored, said the Justice Department did not follow its own policies when it removed her.

Former CISA employee pleads guilty to defrauding government with secret contractor jobs

Prosecutors say Richeline Fung secretly held contractor jobs tied to six agencies and claimed up to 33-hour workdays while working full time for the federal cyber agency.

Agencies have a new question to answer about employee misconduct

COMMENTARY | New rules could give agencies another way to act on misconduct uncovered through continuous vetting. The challenge will be making sure they’re ready to use it.

EEOC votes to propose new rule stripping feds of hearing rights, class action complaints

Members of the public have just 30 days to digest and submit comments on a 130-page plan upending the process for alleging workplace discrimination at federal agencies.

Unions: OPM’s suitability and performance management overhauls assert ‘plenary’ authority over federal firing

A coalition of labor groups sued the Trump administration Monday, arguing recent moves to centralize authority within the Office of Personnel Management and insert subjective criteria into employee evaluations amount to an end-run around the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act.

Unions accuse mediation agency of ‘doublespeak’ in updated lawsuit

The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service’s new policy allowing it to investigate the arbitrability of disputes if an agency objects to participating in them exceeds the “ministerial” agency’s authority, labor groups argue.

IRS CEO’s call to end advanced leave should be ‘null and void,’ NTEU says in lawsuit 

The National Treasury Employees Union argues Frank Bisignano running the IRS without Senate confirmation violates the Constitution.

Federal job listings provide clues for next set of Schedule P/C conversions

New analysis from the Partnership for Public Service reveals that agencies have begun advertising positions as Schedule Policy/Career or planned for the at-will job category.

Archives workers granted telework ahead of D.C. IndyCar race

But a union representing employees at the National Archives’ headquarters said the measure should extend past this weekend, as the building is beset by temporary construction associated with the race.

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.

Exclusive

Statistical agency staffing cuts put federal data under new scrutiny on Capitol Hill

House Education and Workforce Committee Ranking Member Bobby Scott, D-Va., is pressing for a September hearing to examine what staffing losses and leadership vacancies mean for agencies responsible for producing key data.

State Department expands push to reclassify employees as at-will workers

An expanded search for more Schedule Policy/Career conversions is still in its early stages, but a department employee says the effort is “moving relatively fast.”

IRS says a new policy ‘moots’ NTEU’s First Amendment lawsuit. The union isn’t so sure

A new policy allows only “agency-sponsored materials” to be posted on communal office bulletin boards, but agency officials still say they have discretion to approve or deny other documents.

‘We’re still in hell’: A year later, CDC employees remain shaken by headquarters shooting — and angry at agency leaders’ response

The agency is also contending with deep workforce cuts and leadership changes as a new director prepares to take over.

Judge rejects VA’s third attempt to cancel union contracts

U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose OK'd a motion to enforce her prior preliminary injunction preserving collective bargaining at the Veterans Affairs Department on the eve of its planned termination of a collective bargaining agreement with AFGE.