Pay Raise Advances (Sort Of), Employee Relocation Costs Questioned and More

A House panel approved a major spending bill on Wednesday that is the traditional vehicle for the annual federal civilian employee pay raise.

The full Appropriations Committee marked up and reported out the fiscal 2016 Financial Services and General Government bill, which is silent on a pay raise for federal workers in 2016. It doesn’t include money for one, but it also leaves out language that would prohibit it. The bill does, however, prohibit pay raises for the vice president and other senior political appointees.  

President Obama has recommended a 1.3 percent pay raise for feds in 2016, and since lawmakers so far have done nothing to block that, it seems likely a 1.3 percent boost ultimately will take effect. If there is no specific legislative language that provides funds or prohibits an across-the-board raise in any bills -- either stand-alone or omnibus legislation -- then the president has the authority to determine a pay raise based on the Employment Cost Index.

The president has until Aug. 31 to formally announce his 2016 pay raise proposal for federal employees. If the president doesn’t inform Congress of his alternative pay plan for feds by that date, then the increase mandated by the 1990 Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act kicks in.

Under FEPCA, the raise would be determined by the change in the Employment Cost Index minus 0.5 percent. For 2016, that is around 1.8 percent. Obama has met that Aug. 31 deadline in the past, so there’s no reason to think he won’t this year.

Another provision that made it into the financial services spending bill would increase oversight of a program run by the General Services Administration that pays relocation costs for federal employees. Earlier this week, Politico reported that the Housing and Urban Development Department since 2013 has paid almost $2.9 million from a $5.5 million fund to cover various moving expenses for employees, including storage, airplane tickets and home sales. Politico said:

One HUD worker received about $102,000 in relocation expenses, including $30,000 for the cost of offloading his property and $18,000 for temporary housing. That was a line item in nearly $2.9 million HUD has paid since the beginning of 2013 to move about 125 of its employees at an average of nearly $23,000 per person, according to a breakdown obtained by POLITICO through a Freedom of Information Act request.

HUD officials told Politico that a major reorganization in 2013 to consolidate some offices and transfer employees accounted for the bulk of the $2.9 million in relocation costs. They also said GSA is responsible for setting the policy on reimbursements.

In addition to keeping an eye on relocation costs for government workers, Congress also wants more transparency from agencies on paid administrative leave.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office just released a cost estimate on legislation that would require the Homeland Security Department’s chief human capital officer to monitor how many employees are on paid administrative leave and develop a (presumably new) departmentwide policy on the issue. The bill, introduced in March by Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., directs the CHCO to report to Congress on all employees who are under investigation for misconduct and on administrative leave for more than six months as well as how much it’s costing DHS. According to CBO, if the bill becomes law, it will cost less than $500,000 annually between 2016 and 2018, and any spending would be subject to the availability of funds. “Much of the data needed for the required reports and records is currently collected by the department,” CBO noted.

The House Homeland Security Committee approved Loudermilk’s bill in late May.

In other compensation news, the Office of Personnel Management this week published the proposed rule on the new overtime system for Border Patrol agents.

The new compensation system, mandated by the 2014 Border Patrol Agent Pay Reform Act, takes effect on Jan. 1, 2016, eliminating the current practice of administratively uncontrollable overtime, which is meant to be used when unforeseen events force agents to stay past the end of their regular shift. A 2013 Office of Special Counsel report, however, found abuses of AUO at Border Patrol offices that cost the government millions of dollars, which prompted congressional action.

The law seeks to simplify border agents’ pay system, and will result in less generous compensation. It directs Border Patrol agents to choose to work 100, 90 or 80 hours per two-week pay period. Those who choose the 100-hour option (Level 1) will be paid an overtime “supplement” that equals 25 percent of their normal base pay, but they would not receive any extra compensation for overtime hours beyond the 10-hour days. Employees opting to work 90 hours per pay period (Level 2) will earn 12.5 percent of their basic pay for the extra one hour of overtime per day, while those who work 80 hours (Basic) will simply earn their normal base pay as determined by their General Schedule rank, and no overtime.

Are you a veteran in the Washington, D.C. area looking for a job? On Thursday, Disabled American Veterans and RecruitMilitary, a military-to-civilian recruiting firm, will hold a job fair in Hyattsville, Md., along with special classes on financial and employment transition, and one-on-one career coaching. Click here for more information.

Speaking of coaching, OPM announced earlier this month the launch of a governmentwide database of “internal federal coaches.” The agency “has created an inventory of current internal federal coaches, whose services may be shared across agencies at no cost,” said OPM Director Katherine Archuleta in a June 4 memorandum to agency CHCOs. The database is on the Office of Management and Budget’s MAX portal and only certain “designated points of contact” can access it. “Points of contact will be responsible for submitting information on current available coaches within their agency, as well as matching coaches from the database with employees who have expressed an interest in receiving coaching,” Archuleta’s memo said.

(Image via Hurst Photo / Shutterstock.com)