Pay & Benefits

Odds for a 5.2% pay raise for feds in 2024 improve with release of the Senate defense policy bill

The Senate version of the annual National Defense Authorization Act includes an average 5.2% pay raise for both military service members and civilian Pentagon employees.

Pay & Benefits

Draft spending bill cuts telework and bans transgender care for feds, but preserves 5.2% pay raise plan

A House subcommittee's fiscal 2024 spending bill does nothing to override the president’s planned average pay increase for federal workers next year, but it is riddled with policy riders.

Pay & Benefits

The GOP wants to bring back pay for performance, but a leading expert says it’ll never work

Past pay-for-performance efforts have done “double duty as a kind of way to diminish the unions, go after the rank and file, and that was clear,” a researcher says.

Pay & Benefits

Implement locality pay changes quickly, salary council urges OPM

The annual list of recommendations, made in February but made public this month, did not alter the map of locality pay areas, but reiterated the importance of proposals already tentatively approved by the Biden administration.

Pay & Benefits

Conservatives: End Annual Across-the-Board Pay Raises for Feds and Cut Benefits

The Republican Study Committee’s fiscal 2024 budget proposal would favor targeted “merit-based” pay increases and drastically reduce federal employees’ retirement and health care benefits.

Pay & Benefits

Even The Best Federal Health Benefits Won’t Protect You From The Wildfire Smoke

Great insurance and benefits only helps you to manage potentially terrible consequences. Better to prevent.

Pay & Benefits

The 'Pay Cliff' That Could Cripple the Federal Government's Firefighting Workforce

A federal employee union said Wednesday that without a permanent boost to federal wildland firefighters’ pay and benefits, agencies will see a “mass exodus.”

Pay & Benefits

Some Feds Fear They Might Not Get That Pay Raise Now That the Debt Deal is Inked

“The new debt ceiling deal could somehow encourage some in Congress to try for a limitation of 1% or something very low. This would be a huge problem,” says one fed union leader.

Pay & Benefits

TSP Participants Sue Agency Over ‘Botched’ Recordkeeper Transition

A class action lawsuit filed last week alleges that the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program repeatedly failed to pay out participants’ withdrawal and loan requests for months following the transition to a new recordkeeping vendor.

Pay & Benefits

Why Every Federal Employee Should Consider a Health Savings Account

The annual HSA contribution limit is increasing in 2024. Here are some of the benefits of having one.

Pay & Benefits

TSP Portfolios Report a Mixed Bag of May Returns

Most of the funds in the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings plan finished last month down, amid concerns that the United States could breach the debt limit.

Pay & Benefits

So Many TSP Choices

When it comes time to start taking Thrift Savings Plan disbursements, you have options. Lots of options.

Pay & Benefits

OPM Wants to Do More for Federal Workers' Wellness

An initiative to “revitalize” employee assistance programs across the federal government eyes a more comprehensive approach to promoting federal employees' wellness.

Pay & Benefits

A New Retirement Resource

OPM offers a five-step guide to the sometimes confusing retirement process. 

Pay & Benefits

A Labor Economist Predicts Stability in the Fed Pay Trendline, But With a Big Caveat

“There is always a long lag between when higher inflation starts to eat into a fed paycheck and when that paycheck starts to respond to inflation,” one compensation expert says.

Pay & Benefits

A New Guide to the Retirement Process Could Help Feds Avoid Pitfalls, Manage Expectations

OPM's new three-page guide to the federal retirement process will be updated on a monthly basis to reflect anticipated wait times for federal retirees to begin receiving their annuity payments.