Management
Senate panel advances watchdog, labor nominees
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee favorably reported four nominees for adjudicative agencies recently hamstrung by vacancy-related case backlogs to the Senate floor for final consideration.
Workforce
Biden nominates OSC deputy to join FLRA
Biden’s previous choice to fill the last spot on the Federal Labor Relations Authority quietly withdrew from consideration last fall.
Pay & Benefits
Union decries end to retention pay at embattled Illinois prison
Labor leaders at Federal Correctional Institute Thomson said the Bureau of Prisons’ termination of a short-lived initiative to retain employees at the rural facility with a 25% boost to pay will cause hundreds to leave the agency.
Pay & Benefits
New OPM proposal would ensure feds detailed to temporary promotions are paid properly
Federal HR leaders said in a filing last week that a rule capping increased pay for federal workers noncompetitively selected to perform duties of a higher-graded position at 120 days penalizes employees for their agency’s mistake.
Oversight
Conservatives bemoan disappearance of OPM official time docs
Officials at the federal government’s HR agency said a webpage housing sporadic reports on agencies’ official time use did not survive a recent website redesign, but suggested tweaks are ongoing.
Management
Martin O’Malley confirmed as Social Security commissioner
The Senate voted 50-11 Monday to confirm the former Maryland governor, officially ending a multi-year period where the agency struggled under acting leadership.
Workforce
Workers at German military installation unionize amid AFGE's overseas push
Nearly 400 employees of a community center on Ramstein Air Base voted to form the American Federation of Government Employee’s second union local in Europe.
Workforce
Bipartisan bill would let VA medical employees grieve compensation mistakes
Unlike most federal workers, medical professionals at the Veterans Affairs Department are unable to negotiate over compensation adjustments like payroll errors.
Management
O’Malley’s bid to lead Social Security moves forward
The Senate Finance Committee voted Tuesday to advance O’Malley’s nomination to lead the Social Security Administration to the Senate floor for final consideration.
Pay & Benefits
The federal pay gap spiked again in 2023
Members of an advisory panel that examines federal employee compensation issues on Tuesday recommended advocating new tactics to combat the federal-private sector pay disparity as well as pay compression.
Workforce
‘I want to work myself out of a job’: How two FLRA officials are responsible for resolving hundreds of labor-management disputes
The Federal Labor Relations Authority’s Collaboration and Alternative Dispute Resolution Office makes a big impact, despite a tiny organizational chart.
Workforce
Union coalition throws support behind OPM’s anti-Schedule F rules
A group of 14 labor organizations led by the National Treasury Employees Union urged the federal government’s HR agency to adopt its proposal to hamstring future efforts to strip feds’ job protections “promptly.”
Management
A tall task awaits O’Malley at Social Security
If confirmed, the former governor faces a likely uphill battle to lobby Congress for funding and to reverse a decades-long decline in staffing to alleviate workloads for a workforce in crisis.
Workforce
‘There’s no fat left to trim’: FLRA chairwoman warns of possible furloughs in 2024
The agency tasked with overseeing labor-management relations in the federal government had a smaller budget in fiscal 2023 than it did in 2004.
Workforce
Impasses panel preserves telework levels for FEC bargaining unit workers
FEC officials had argued that employees need more “water cooler discussions,” despite the agency’s own assessment of a pilot program finding that increased telework improved agency operations.
Pay & Benefits
Court sides with Biden administration in dismissing federal employee union’s effort to eradicate debt default threat
Federal workers do not have standing after Congress narrowly avoided forcing them to work without immediate pay, judge rules.
Management
Underfunding presents operations and cybersecurity challenges for FLRA in fiscal 2024, OIG says
The independent agency tasked with overseeing labor issues within the federal government is currently operating at the same budget level it was 20 years ago, while its unfair labor practice case load has risen 62% in the last four years.
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.
Workforce
New NTEU president scolds GOP over telework, anti-worker rhetoric
The recently elected union leader said labor groups need to do more to educate the public on how federal workers benefit their lives.
Management
Social Security Advisory Board urges quick action on SSA nominee, end to 6-year terms
Since the Social Security Administration was made independent from the Health and Human Services Department in the 1990s, only two of the agency’s commissioners have served the full six-year term.
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