Pay & Benefits

Federal workers will pay 7.7% more towards health insurance premiums in 2024

Next year, the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program will feature new coverage of anti-obesity medication, as well as expanded access to mental health, assistive reproductive technology and gender-affirming care.

Pay & Benefits

Long term care insurance: Sharp hike in premiums for feds means enrollees face tough choices

Experts say although long term care is in the cards for most older Americans, an upcoming spike in LTC insurance premiums for feds who are enrolled is just part of a pattern that will remain unbroken until Congress and policymakers act on the neglected—but vital—broader issue of long term care and accompanying costs that will affect a majority of federal families. The program remains closed to new applicants.

Pay & Benefits

Odds of a fix for impending wildland firefighter ‘pay cliff’ improve, but complications remain

Union officials say they’ve received assurances from leadership in both the House and Senate that Congress will work to avert massive pay cuts that could kick in next month.

Pay & Benefits

Best Dates to Retire 2024

Looking forward to moving on next year? Here’s a calendar showing optimal dates.

Pay & Benefits

Process and payment questions are always paramount in shutdowns

How and when contractors get paid if the government shuts down are among many questions contractors have. Here is a glimpse at some answers.

Pay & Benefits

Large federal unions endorse the auto worker strike action. A scholar explains why

“They know their job security depends on not just protecting their own rights, but a strong private sector,” says John P. Beck, of Michigan State University.

Pay & Benefits

Your guide to pay and benefits during a shutdown

Congress is on a collision course with yet another lapse of appropriations, as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy struggles to corral the Republican caucus.

Pay & Benefits

With wildfires looming, Congress must act to prevent an exodus of firefighters

COMMENTARY | Firefighters protect communities and people, asking for little in return: equipment to do our jobs safely, benefits that recognize the inherent dangers of our work, and pay that is sufficient to take care of our families, writes one advocate.

Pay & Benefits

A Question of Survival

Two questions, actually, from readers about survivor benefits. 

Pay & Benefits

Union warns at least one-third of federal wildland firefighters could walk if Congress walks off ‘pay cliff’

Officials with the National Federation of Federal Employees said Wednesday that competitors like Cal Fire and Pacific Gas and Electric are already looking to recruit federal firefighters fed up with their pay uncertainty.

Pay & Benefits

Come again? Political scientist sees shutdown as 'likely'— and feds need to get ready

With days left until funding for the federal government expires, some political experts foresee not only a shutdown, but possibly a long one, with an interruption in pay likely 

Pay & Benefits

GOP lawmakers tap Holman Rule to slash the salaries of agency heads

If House conservatives get their way, multiple federal officials will open fiscal 2024 with $1 annual salaries.

Pay & Benefits

Pay compression: One expert says a current bill would help, but deeper changes are still needed

“The relatively low pay for very skilled, very experienced workers is a serious problem,” says James L. Perry, professor emeritus of public administration at the University of Indiana.

Pay & Benefits

Most TSP portfolios stumbled in August

The only fund in the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program that finished last month in the black was the G Fund, which increases at a statutorily mandated rate each month.

Pay & Benefits

Biden formally announces 5.2% average pay raise for feds in 2024

The annual declaration of a national emergency preventing large automatic raises from taking effect solidifies that 0.5% of the total pay increase figure will go toward an average boost in locality pay.

Pay & Benefits

IRS announces two-year delay to TSP catch-up contribution changes

New rules requiring high-income 401(k) participants to make catch-up contributions only to Roth accounts will not take effect until 2026.

Pay & Benefits

TSP contribution limits will increase again next year, consultants predict

This would mark the third straight year that the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings plan and similar private sector programs see a boost in their annual contribution limits.