Pay & Benefits

Union Asks OPM to Loosen Restrictions on Paid Parental Leave

Some requirements of the new benefit program are overly burdensome, particularly if a baby is born prematurely.

Pay & Benefits

Payroll Tax Deferral Will Be Mandatory for Eligible Feds, Service Members

The Trump administration has ignored calls to allow federal employees to opt out of the planned deferral of Social Security taxes from lawmakers and federal employee groups.

Pay & Benefits

Planned Payroll Tax Deferrals Create Minefield for Feds

If the deferment is made permanent, employees could see a lower payout in retirement; if not, employees could receive a large tax bill next year, union official says.

Management

Social Security Denies Lake Charles Employees Weather and Safety Leave Despite Category 4 Hurricane

Just hours after Hurricane Laura made land fall along the western Louisiana coast, employees at the agency’s Lake Charles, La., field office were expected to work from hotel rooms after evacuating ahead of the storm.

Management

Survey: Most Feds Who Have Been Working From Home During the Pandemic Are Afraid to Return to Their Offices

Nearly 80% of teleworking respondents to a new survey from AFGE said they don’t feel safe going back to their traditional worksite.

Management

Labor Authority: Unions Can't Do 'Grassroots' Lobbying on Official Time

Although federal employee groups decried the decision, the Federal Labor Relations Authority stopped short of a conservative anti-labor organization's request to outlaw direct lobbying of lawmakers while on official time.

Management

Union: Social Security Is Withholding Information and Refusing to Bargain as Some Employees Return to Offices

Agency argues most employees are still teleworking to the maximum extent possible and there has been no major change in work arrangements that would require negotiation.

Management

AFGE Pushes for Workforce Protections in Defense Policy Bill Negotiations

The nation’s largest federal employee union urged lawmakers to include collective bargaining protections and fix a soon to be implemented paid parental leave law.

Management

Administrative Law Judges Union Accuses Social Security of Illegal Implementation of Contract

SSA on Monday moved ahead with a partial collective bargaining agreement with the Association of Administrative Law Judges, despite the fact that nine articles remain in dispute, and the agency unilaterally rewrote an article without the union’s input.

Management

Vast Majority of VA Employees Have Either Witnessed Or Experienced Racism at Work, Survey Finds

Nearly 76% of respondents to union survey have experienced "racially charged actions," and three-quarters of those who haven't experienced incidents themselves say they have witnessed them.

Management

OPM Is Reorganizing Employees to Get Around Ban on GSA Merger, Union Claims

Over the weekend, the Office of Personnel Management moved nearly two dozen employees into the agency’s HR Line of Business, which is being renamed with GSA support.

Management

Immigration Judges Union Survives, For Now

Federal Labor Relations Authority regional director rejects arguments by the Justice Department that immigration judges are managers and therefore their union should be decertified.

Management

Appellate Court: FLRA Cannot Override Arbitrators Just Because It Disagrees With Them

A three-judge panel last week overturned a Federal Labor Relations Authority decision, ruling that the federal labor-management agency did not provide enough deference to neutral arbitrators.

Management

White House Objects to Language Preventing OPM-GSA Merger and Other Workforce Provisions in House 'Minibus' Spending Bill

Veto threat also lists objections to provisions that would undermine the White House’s approach to labor-management relations.

Management

Democratic Senators Introduce Bill to Include Feds in Coronavirus Response Decisions

A task force of administration and union officials would make recommendations for how agencies should protect workers during the pandemic.

Pay & Benefits

Trump Threatens Veto of Defense Policy Bill Over Base Names, Other Issues

The White House issued a formal veto threat of the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act just hours before lawmakers voted on the must-pass legislation.

Management

Federal Employee Unions Endorse Biden for President

The news comes as no surprise following the Trump administration’s concerted efforts to diminish the role of labor groups at federal agencies and cut benefits and protections for frontline federal workers.

Management

Labor Agency Changes Organizational Chart to Bolster Court Defense

Attorneys for a union challenging how members of the Federal Service Impasses Panel are appointed called recent changes to the Federal Labor Relations Authority website a “cynical” effort to influence the case.

Pay & Benefits

House Appropriations Bill Keeps Trump’s 1% Raise for Feds, Blocks other White House Priorities

The legislation would prevent the Trump administration from moving forward with its proposed GSA-OPM merger as well as implementation of new union contracts.