Workforce

Employee groups, Democrats, experts warn feds not to accept ‘deferred resignation’ offer

The lack of a legal underpinning for the purported eight-month severance package, and Elon Musk’s history of offering—and then revoking—severance payments have many federal workers wary of the measure.

Updated Workforce

Trump reportedly will offer 'buyouts' to all 2 million federal workers

The White House’s plan to offer “deferred resignations” that pay departing federal employees their salary through Sept. 30 will likely run afoul of rules governing buyout payments.

Workforce

White House collects lists of federal DEI office employees as punishments begin

Agencies are starting to take action against DEI-tasked employees and pass lists of those workers on to OPM and the White House.

Workforce

New Schedule F guidance shows the Trump White House is rearing for a fight

Trump administration officials elected to bypass the regulatory process to rescind Biden-era rules aimed at barring Schedule F’s revival, setting up a bigger fight over the president's authority.

Workforce

Agencies to soon detail how they will overcome unions, office space issues to bring all staff in-person

The White House and OPM are asking for specifics in how agencies will comply with Trump's return-to-office order.

Workforce

OPM demands agencies comply with Trump’s telework order within 30 days

The State Department has already begun to implement the president’s memo cancelling telework agreements as of March 1 and remote work arrangements July 1, with exceptions for military spouses and employees with disabilities.

Workforce

Trump administration to lay off all federal employees in DEI offices

The president has called on federal agencies to immediately cease all DEI-related activities.

Management

Senior executive standards get first update in more than 15 years

OPM said technological advances necessitated the changes, but some stakeholders argued the modifications still don’t reflect current governmental needs.

Updated Workforce

VA employees ordered to pay back bonuses over misconduct now have an appeal process

The rulemaking is the result of a 2017 law intended to make it easier to remove poor-performing VA employees, but the Biden administration previously decided not to use it after legal decisions blunted the law’s authorities.

Management

OPM officials tout agency’s transformation under Biden

Leaders at the federal government’s dedicated HR agency said the organization has come a long way since being targeted for elimination by the first Trump administration.

Pay & Benefits

OPM set to finalize rules standardizing General Schedule, blue collar locality pay maps

The final rule implementing the long-requested adjustment to the Federal Wage System’s map of wage areas won’t be published until after President-elect Trump’s inauguration.

Transition

OPM clears Trump’s beachhead teams for landing

Existing authorities allow the president-elect to make certain temporary appointments during the transition to a new administration.

Pay & Benefits

OPM outlines pay, benefits rules for appointees resigning on Inauguration Day

The federal government’s HR agency also highlighted the ramifications of Jan. 20 coinciding with Martin Luther King Day for D.C.-area federal workers.

Pay & Benefits

Biden finalizes 2% pay raise for feds next month

The president was apparently unmoved by federal employee groups and some House Democrats’ pleas to restore pay parity between the civilian and military workforces.

Pay & Benefits

Your guide to pay and benefits during a shutdown

Congress has just hours to reach an agreement to fund the government past midnight Friday, after President-elect Trump and his confidante Elon Musk scuttled a bipartisan deal earlier this week.

Workforce

OPM finally issues regulations implementing 2016 administrative leave reforms

An environmental advocacy group sued the federal government’s HR agency earlier this year in an effort to prod the federal government’s HR agency to implement a law aimed at ending lengthy periods of paid administrative leave.

Management

Could Biden’s recent strategy to streamline government hiring be scuttled under Trump?

One of the purposes of the administration’s federal hiring improvement plan is to make agencies aware of hiring tools they already have access to.

Updated Management

Extraordinary senior executives receive presidential rank award

The selective honor comes with a cash award that is up to 35% of the recipient’s annual basic pay.

Pay & Benefits

OPM’s retirement backlog ticked up slightly last month, though other metrics improved

Statistics measuring the federal government HR agency’s performance in processing departing federal workers’ retirement claims remained stable following the backlog’s removal from OPM’s list of top management challenges.