Pay & Benefits

A Senate panel has advanced legislation to avert wildland firefighter ‘pay cliff’

Meanwhile, the Office of Personnel Management has released a draft set of qualifications for its upcoming new job series for wildland fire management.

Workforce

New union contract offers hope for better labor relations at the Social Security Administration

The American Federation of Government Employees and Social Security management will meet on a bimonthly basis to collaborate on issues like improving training, designing a child care subsidy and more.

Management

Small businesses’ share of federal contracting dollars reaches ‘all time high,’ SBA says

Federal agencies paid small businesses $162.9 billion for contracting work—the most ever recorded—in fiscal 2022, although the proportion of federal contract dollars going to small businesses declined to 26.5%.

Workforce

Proposed funding cuts could prevent IRS, Justice and other agencies from meeting their missions, employee groups say

Controversial plans to deeply slash spending at OPM, IRS and the Justice Department have drawn the ire of the federal employees who work at or rely on those agencies. They say the cuts would harm mission delivery.

Workforce

Sen. Kaine revives effort to ban Schedule F through the defense policy bill

This marks the second straight year that the Virginia Democrat has sought to attach a measure requiring congressional approval for new federal job classifications to the National Defense Authorization Act.

Pay & Benefits

Bipartisan wildland firefighter ‘pay cliff’ fix introduced in Senate

Without congressional action by September, the federal government’s wildland firefighters will see their paychecks shrink as temporary pay increases expire.

Oversight

‘Wrongdoing’ likely in USDA maintenance of the nation’s largest agricultural research facility, OSC says

Union leaders said a recent winter flood of a building at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center is just a symptom of systematic mismanagement of the facility.

Workforce

House supports a 5.2% pay raise in its draft Defense policy bill, but slashes diversity initiatives

Committee leaders hope to end the National Defense Authorization Act's reputation as a Christmas tree for non-national security amendments.

Pay & Benefits

OPM’s retirement backlog just hit its lowest level since 2017

The federal government’s HR agency’s efforts to modernize the retirement process have been buoyed by increased investment and renewed focus on customer service.

Management

FLRA will test out paperless document delivery

The agency that oversees labor-management relations in the federal government says sending documents by mail sometimes hamstrings parties’ ability to respond to filings.

Pay & Benefits

OPM reminds agencies of workplace flexibilities following disasters

A memo highlighting telework, paid leave and other benefits available to feds impacted by disasters corresponds with the beginning of hurricane season and a recent typhoon in the Pacific Ocean.

Pay & Benefits

TSP funds bounce back following debt limit uncertainty

Only one of the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings plan’s portfolios finished June in the red.

Workforce

Schedule F architects say the plan’s critics are ‘hyperbolic’

Officials behind the Trump administration’s abortive effort to strip tens of thousands of federal workers in policy positions of their civil service protections called concerns of politicization overblown, but espoused making all federal employees at-will.

Workforce

OPM’s ‘Intern Experience Program’ promises to standardize, improve agencies’ internship offerings

The plan is the latest in a series of initiatives aimed at boosting participation in internship programs at federal agencies and improving the government’s ability to recruit younger civil servants.

Pay & Benefits

Extra pay raises are coming to nearly 33,000 feds next year, thanks to new locality pay rules

The Office of Personnel Management has proposed regulations to create four new locality pay areas, along with a comprehensive map update adding dozens of jurisdictions to existing pay regions.

Pay & Benefits

Most feds will have a few extra hours of paid leave this year, thanks to a calendar quirk

The Office of Personnel Management on Monday warned that many federal workers should plan to take slightly more time off to avoid forfeiting “use it or lose it” annual leave hours.

Pay & Benefits

Odds for a 5.2% pay raise for feds in 2024 improve with release of the Senate defense policy bill

The Senate version of the annual National Defense Authorization Act includes an average 5.2% pay raise for both military service members and civilian Pentagon employees.

Workforce

A gender equity group still wants better protections for feds who need abortion care

One year after the Dobbs decision, President Biden signed a new executive order potentially expanding contraceptive access for federal workers, but a gender equity group at the Justice Department says more needs to be done.

Pay & Benefits

Draft spending bill cuts telework and bans transgender care for feds, but preserves 5.2% pay raise plan

A House subcommittee's fiscal 2024 spending bill does nothing to override the president’s planned average pay increase for federal workers next year, but it is riddled with policy riders.

Workforce

Social Security’s staffing crisis is getting dire, union says

Agency management is doing “the bare minimum” to improve workplace conditions amid a daunting workload and morale that is among the worst in the federal government, union officials argue.