Pay & Benefits
Senate appropriators endorse 2% pay raise for feds next year
With neither chamber in Congress willing to override President Biden, his plan to increase federal workers’ pay by 2% on average appears headed for implementation later this year.
Management
Senate appropriators propose $500 million budget increase for Social Security overhead
The decision to include $14.7 billion for the Social Security Administration’s administrative budget sets up a fight with the House, which is proposing a nearly half billion-dollar cut.
Pay & Benefits
TSP boasts strong performance in July
Each of the portfolios in the federal government’s 401(k)-style retirement savings program gained value last month.
Workforce
A Senate panel has advanced bills codifying skills-based hiring, restricting IG employees’ political activity
Bipartisan legislation would add employees in agency offices of inspectors general to the list of those “further restricted” from political activity under the Hatch Act.
Management
Senators take another crack at solving over-classification
The bipartisan Classification Reform for Transparency Act would establish a new task force to narrow the criteria for classifying documents and make it harder for agencies to exempt records from automatic declassification.
Workforce
Federal worker union shifts presidential endorsements to Harris
Labor groups at federal agencies touted Harris’ record both as a senator and vice president, particularly her co-chairwomanship of a White House task force on union issues.
Pay & Benefits
OPM finalizes rule to ensure temporarily promoted feds are paid properly
A two-decades old Office of Personnel Management advisory opinion capping increased pay for federal workers temporarily performing duties of a higher-graded position at 120 days inadvertently penalized workers rather than their errant employer.
Pay & Benefits
Justice employee group provides testimonials on the need for better IVF coverage for feds
Three dozen members of the Department of Justice Gender Equality Network described their experiences trying to conceive in a letter to OPM.
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.
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.
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