Pay & Benefits

New bills want to provide Gold Star survivors with better benefits, make it easier for former feds to return

The Gold Star Spouse Healthcare Enhancement Act aims to provide fallen service members’ partners with lower health care costs for longer, while the Return USA Act looks to create an on-ramp for former employees to return to federal service. 

Pay & Benefits

OPM sets up leave transfer program for feds impacted by Milton

Federal workers will soon be able to donate unused leave to their colleagues who need time to recover after Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida Wednesday.

Pay & Benefits

Time for the fall deadlines

A checklist to help you prioritize as you sort through your federal retirement and insurance benefits.

Pay & Benefits

Cost-of-living adjustments will decline for federal retirees again in 2025

For the second straight year, former federal workers will see a smaller increase to their defined-benefit annuities in January, with FERS retirees set for a 2% increase and CSRS annuitants a 2.5% bump.

Pay & Benefits

A closer look at 2025 FEHBP premiums

Open Season is just a few weeks away, and costs are increasing this year. What does that mean for federal employees?

Pay & Benefits

OPM moves to standardize General Schedule, blue collar locality pay areas

For years, federal employee unions have bemoaned that the pay systems’ differing maps of high-cost regions created pay inequity within agency workforces.

Pay & Benefits

Lawmakers consider making military leave more equitable for feds with non-traditional work schedules

Currently, the annual cap on paid leave available to federal employees associated with their service in the National Guard is 15 days, which advocates say works well for traditional weekday work schedules but not for employees who frequently work weekends.

Pay & Benefits

End-of-year retirement planning for federal couples 

Spouses who both work for the federal government can have some unique quandaries when it comes to planning for their retirement and health care benefits.

Pay & Benefits

Labor Department sets 2025 federal contractor minimum wages

In a pair of filings in the Federal Register Monday, Labor Department officials set the range of minimum wages for contractors between $9.30 per hour for tipped workers to $17.75 per hour, depending on the job type.

Pay & Benefits

OPM announces leave transfer program for feds affected by Helene

Federal employees will soon be able to donate unused leave to their colleagues who need time to recover after Hurricane Helene caused widespread destruction across the Southeast.

Pay & Benefits

VA proposes grant program offering vets legal services to help obtain benefits

The department’s goal is to assist former service members who were discharged under other than honorable conditions but could still be eligible for VA benefits.

Pay & Benefits

New bill eyes uniformed services benefits for public health corps reservists 

The proposed legislation would provide reservists in a Health and Human Services component with health, education and leave benefits that are similar to other service members.

Pay & Benefits

TSP continues upward trek for third straight month

Each portfolio within the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program saw modest gains in September.

Pay & Benefits

Federal workers will see the largest increase to their health care premiums in recent memory next year

In a year where insurers have expanded coverage for multiple medical treatments, federal employees will see their Federal Employees Health Benefits Program premiums increase by an average of 13.5% in 2025.

Pay & Benefits

The best dates to retire in 2025

Your annual guide to choosing an optimal day to start the next phase of your life.

Pay & Benefits

Multiple FEHBP carriers will offer 'comprehensive' IVF coverage next year

Biden administration officials said that two nationwide insurers in the federal government’s employer-sponsored health care program will offer $25,000 worth of in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments.

Pay & Benefits

House takes another stab at a bill reimbursing new veterans for emergency care 

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., is hoping a reintroduced version of the RELIEVE Act will finally close the VA’s emergency care coverage loophole after Congress previously dropped the measure from the fiscal 2024 supplemental funding package.

Pay & Benefits

Why do employees want to be feds? Benefits are a big reason

In a 2023 OPM survey, 90% or more of federal employees said that the availability of health and retirement benefits are important to them.

Pay & Benefits

Lawmakers force a vote on eliminating the windfall elimination provision

Reps. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., and Garrett Graves, R-La., have secured the 218 signatures needed to force a vote on legislation that would kill two controversial tax provisions affecting some feds’ retirement benefits.

Pay & Benefits

Senate advances $3B VA supplemental bill one day before deadline

The chamber approved legislation by voice vote Thursday to provide the Veterans Affairs Department with an extra $3 billion to cover a surge in veterans benefits costs ahead of a potential service disruption.