Author Archive
Workforce
Unions applaud ‘most pro-union president in history’ following Biden’s decision to end campaign
Labor leaders said their goal remains to defeat Trump’s bid to return to the White House next year.
Pay & Benefits
OPM directs agencies to conduct pay equity studies
The gender pay gap in the federal government was 5.6% in 2022, meaning women federal workers earned on average 94 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts.
Workforce
The DOOBIE Act would codify federal hiring policy for former marijuana users
The bill, introduced by Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., would enshrine in law that past marijuana use cannot be the sole basis for denying federal job applicants a position or security clearance.
Pay & Benefits
Administrative law judge union to push for expanded annual carryover leave
Officials with a union that represents administrative law judges at the Social Security Administration said their jobs are more akin to those of senior-level federal jobs than General Schedule positions.
Management
Here’s how Trump’s new vice presidential pick stacks up on federal workforce issues
Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, has been at the center of GOP efforts in Congress to “dismantle” diversity, equity and inclusion programs at federal agencies, and has suggested that if Trump wins re-election, he should fire “every mid-level bureaucrat” in government.
Workforce
Biden trashes Trump’s civil service plans in press conference
The president described Project 2025 and Schedule F threats to the United States’ democratic system during a press conference Thursday.
Workforce
The FLRA is nearly back at full strength following Senate confirmation vote
The Senate voted 55-37 to confirm Anne Wagner as the third member atop the Federal Labor Relations Authority, allowing the agency to consider controversial cases again for the first time in more than a year.
Featured eBooks
Management
House GOP defeats effort to restore SSA funding to appropriations bill
Democrats said the planned half-billion-dollar cut to the Social Security Administration’s administrative budget would bring the agency’s workforce to the lowest level in 50 years.
Pay & Benefits
A House funding bill would make recent federal firefighter pay raises permanent
The House Appropriations Committee is set to advance a spending package Tuesday that would codify recent temporary pay raises for federal wildland firefighters into law and fund them to the tune of $330 million.
Pay & Benefits
OPM’s backlog of pending retirement claims ticked back up in June
The federal government’s dedicated HR agency processed around 1,300 fewer claims than it received last month, bringing its retirement backlog back above 15,000.
Oversight
PEER sues to force OPM to implement administrative leave reforms
Though Congress enacted a law aimed at ending agencies’ abuse of involuntary administrative leave, the federal government’s dedicated HR agency has yet to implement its key provisions.
Pay & Benefits
TSP funds posted a mixed bag in June
Only three of the five core investment offerings of the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program ended the month in the black.
Oversight
House GOP official bashes VA leader for ‘budgetary mismanagement’
House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost’s letter to VA Secretary Denis McDonough takes the leader of the Veterans Health Administration to task over recent hiring restrictions within the department and controversial but since-rescinded bonus payments.
Workforce
Social Security in line for half-billion dollar cut in House GOP funding bill
Republican appropriators blamed “reduced in-person staffing” at headquarters to slash the already overworked and under-resourced agency’s budget.
Featured eBooks
Workforce
Forest Service will partially refund federal firefighters’ rent in government-owned housing
The decision to provide a 50% refund to wildland firefighters at the GS-10 level who reside in government-owned housing will affect roughly 5,500 employees.
Workforce
The House’s DHS funding bill preserves TSA’s recent pay increases
Although lawmakers have yet to act on a bill to codify the Biden administration’s decision to provide Transportation Security Administration employees with Title 5 protections and compensation, Congress is poised to continue funding the initiative.
Management
Senate bill aims to streamline how agencies respond to wildfires
Much like the workforce-focused wildfire bill introduced last week in the House, the EMBER Act draws its provisions from the recommendations of a recent bipartisan commission report.
Pay & Benefits
Biden’s 2% raise more likely upon advancement of Senate defense policy bill
The Senate Armed Services Committee last week advanced its version of the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, endorsing a 2% average pay raise for civilian federal workers alongside a 4.5% increase for military service members.
Exclusive
Workforce
Martin O’Malley is on a one-year sprint to save Social Security
Despite shaking up the culture one of Washington’s most risk-averse agencies, the former governor said his biggest task is convincing Congress to reinvest in the Social Security Administration’s administrative overhead.
Pay & Benefits