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Management
O'Malley: SSA’s 2024 progress refutes government doubters
Under the commissioner’s tenure, Social Security has seen marked improvements in its customer service metrics despite continually mounting workloads and dwindling funding.
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.
Pay & Benefits
The House finally appears set to repeal the WEP and GPO
Lawmakers in September successfully triggered a discharge petition to force a vote on legislation to get rid of the controversial tax provisions affecting some feds’ retirement benefits.
Workforce
Feds brace for return of Trump personnel policies
Federal employee unions sought to balance reassuring members that they will fight the return of measures undermining feds’ civil service protections with asserting their commitment to nonpartisan service.
Management
What Trump’s win means for the federal workforce
The Republican former president has vowed to remake the civil service in his image with the reinstatement of Schedule F.
Pay & Benefits
GSA issues update to rules governing relocation expense reimbursement following real estate lawsuit
A recent deal to settle multiple lawsuits against the National Association of Realtors has changed how real estate agents are compensating, necessitating a tweak to how agencies reimburse federal workers who must relocate for work.
Pay & Benefits
Most TSP funds took a tumble in October
Only two portfolios in the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program ended last month in the black, ending a three-month run of gains.
Workforce
Employee group urges centralized response to increase in doxxing and threats against federal workers
The Department of Justice Gender Equality Network urged department leadership to create a centralized “triage” team to better tackle instances where members of the public doxx or threaten employees online.
Pay & Benefits
An employee group is miffed by the new Postal Service insurance program’s Medicare Part D coverage
OPM said that they were restricted in how they provide prescription drug benefits to Medicare-eligible enrollees in the new Postal Service Health Benefits Program, but at least one employee association disagrees.
Workforce
OPM issues guidance for agencies to implement anti-Schedule F regulations
The effort to insulate the federal civil service from former President Trump’s plan to replace potentially tens of thousands of career employees in “policy-related” position with loyalists could be short lived if the Republican nominee wins the election next month.
Management
OPM announces a program to make it easier for ex-interns to get full-time federal work
A new feature within USAJOBS’ Agency Talent Portal will allow agencies to hire former interns from other agencies into term or permanent federal positions.
Management
Without budget anomaly, SSA hiring is restricted and overtime is at 'historic lows'
Congress’ refusal to provide additional funding for the Social Security Administration in September’s two-month continuing resolution to prevent a government shutdown is kneecapping two tools that are key to combatting the agency’s customer service crisis.
Workforce
Biden says Trump's civil service plans make him unfit for office
The president cited his predecessor’s support for reinstating Schedule F, a controversial plan to make tens of thousand of federal workers at-will employees, as he campaigned for Vice President Harris' White House bid.
Pay & Benefits
A Senate bill targeting teleworkers’ locality pay now has its companion in the House
Legislation introduced by Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., would bar federal workers from receiving locality pay if they telework at least once per week, a move that could amount to a 30% pay cut for many feds.
Updated
Workforce
Labor Dept. to require workers to spend half of work time in-person, angering union
The National Council of Field Labor Locals said Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su shirked her collective bargaining responsibilities by reducing telework while the union’s negotiability appeal is still pending before the Federal Labor Relations Authority.
Oversight
GAO: Agency HR offices need better communication with officials in remote posts
Federal officials in Alaska, Hawaii and the United States’ various offshore territories said they struggle to combat high attrition at federal jobs in the non-contiguous U.S., despite some agencies’ efforts.
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
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.
Oversight
OPM’s retirement backlog has fallen off the agency’s list of top management challenges
The Office of Personnel Management’s inspector general last month reported that the federal government’s dedicated HR agency faces taller tasks in the form of launching a health insurance program for postal workers and verifying enrollees’ eligibility for the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.
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.
