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- What OPM’s Retirement Services Site Can Do for You - April 18
- Retirement & Financial Planning Report, FEDweekFor federal retirees, OPM handles many of the same types of transactions that agency personnel offices handle for active employees. Like personnel offices, OPM has increasingly automated those services in recent years.
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- 10 Must-Do Action Items to Prepare to Retire from Federal Service - April 18, 2019
- By Chris Kowalik, My Federal RetirementAs you begin getting serious about retiring from federal service, you may be concerned that you’ll miss some critical steps in the preparation process. Follow these 10 must-do action items to ensure you’re on track to living the retirement you’ve imagined.
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- How Federal Employee Benefits Are Affected by the 2019 Retroactive Pay Raise - April 16, 2019
- Edward A. Zurndorfer, My Federal RetirementPresident Trump signed an Executive Order on Feb. 15, 2019 that implements a retroactive pay adjustment required by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2019. The Executive Order authorizes a 1.4 percent across-the-board increase for statutory pay systems and locality pay increases costing approximately 0.5 percent of basic payroll. This reflects an overall average pay increase of 1.9 percent effective January 6, 2019.
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- Senators Join In Renewed Efforts to Give Feds Paid Family Leave - April 15, 2019
- Erich Wagner, Government ExecutiveDemocrats in the Senate introduced legislation this week that would provide federal employees paid time off if they need to care for themselves or family members.
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- SSA OFFERING VERA IN 2019 - April 10, 2019
- When is the Best Date to Take SSA’s Early Out Retirement Offer?By John Grobe, published in FedSmithThe word is out that the Social Security Administration will be offering a VERA (Voluntary Early Retirement Authorization, aka “early out”) for employees this year. Employees must notify the agency by May 31 of their interest in accepting the early out and, if approved, they must be off the agency’s rolls by August 2.
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- IRS SEEKS HIRING AUTHORITY FOR SWIFT TALENT ACQUISITION - April 9, 2019
- IRS commissioner looks for hiring authority to onboard IT talent in weeks, not monthsBy Jory Hickman, Federal News NetworkIRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig has urged members of a House Appropriations subcommittee to give the agency the authority to hire short-term cyber and IT talent more quickly and pay them at a rate beyond the pay scale for career employees.Rettig said critical pay authority, which he previously advocated for during his confirmation hearing last summer, would enable him to hire promising new recruits at a rate closer to what he was able to achieve during his 36-year career as a tax attorney.
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- LATEST INFORMATION ON FEDERAL RETIREMENT CLAIMS AND BACKLOG - April 8, 2019
- Federal Retirement Claims Continue to Surge in March, But Backlog Is DownBy Erich Wagner, Government ExecutiveThe Office of Personnel Management reported last week that the annual surge in retirements, traditionally reserved for January and February, crept into March this year, although the agency has managed to reduce the backlog of claims.
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- THE SHUTDOWN'S TOLL ON IRS WORK DURING TAX SEASON - April 5, 2019
- Watchdog Details Shutdown’s Damage to IRS Work During Tax SeasonBy Charles S. Clark, Government ExecutiveAn inspector general’s routine update on how the Internal Revenue Service is faring during tax filing season provides grim numbers on the waste and delayed service to taxpayers inflicted by this winter’s 35-day partial government shutdown.Examples from a Thursday report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration show that from Dec. 22, 2018, to Jan. 21, 2019:
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- KEY AREAS TO WATCH REGARDING PROPOSED CUTS TO BENEFITS - April 3, 2019
- The path forward for Trump’s proposed federal retirement cuts in 2020By Nicole Ogrysko, Federal News NetworkNews of the Trump administration’s latest proposals to cut retirement benefits in 2020 likely elicited a tired eye roll from federal employees this year.The reaction is justified, considering it’s the third consecutive year the administration made such proposals in the president’s annual budget request. Even before that, Congress had made similar attempts during the Obama administration.
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- WHEELER DISCUSSES ADMINISTRATION'S CALL FOR 31% BUDGET REDUCTION AT EPA - April 3, 2019
- EPA Chief Admits That Brain Drain Puts Agency at 'Critical Juncture'By Charles S. Clark, Government ExecutivePresident Trump’s proposal for a 31 percent cut in the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget is justified as part of a “bold agenda” that combines public health with economic growth, EPA Chief Andrew Wheeler told House appropriators on Tuesday.But when grilled on the agency’s failure to fill vacancies left by a “recent exodus” of experts and enforcement personnel, Wheeler said, “We are trying to hire up but are losing people at a very fast rate. We’re hiring them as fast as we’re losing them.”
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- FEDERAL NEWS NETWORK EXPLORES LOCALITY PAY DESIGNATIONS - APRIL 1, 2019
- Is securing a new federal locality pay area worth it?By Nicole Ogrysko, Federal News NetworkThe payout for federal employees who have been waiting — for years in some cases — to secure their own locality pay areas and separate rates may be getting a little less sweet.Some 72,000 federal employees in Birmingham, Alabama; Burlington, Vermont; Corpus Christi, Texas; Omaha, Nebraska; San Antonio, Texas; and Virginia Beach/Norfolk, Virginia, broke free this year of the “rest of U.S.” designation. Employees in these areas now have their own, separate locality pay rates starting in 2019.
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- Here's How Agencies Will Distribute the Retroactive Pay Raise - April 1, 2019
- Erich Wagner, Government ExecutiveThe Office of Personnel Management on Thursday evening published guidance to agencies and federal payroll processors on how to apply the 1.9 percent pay raise for civilian federal employees retroactively to Jan. 6.
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- PAY RAISE FOR 2019 FINALIZED; READY TO BE IMPLEMENTED - MARCH 28, 2019
- White House Finalizes 1.9 Percent Pay Raise for Civilian FedsBy Erich Wagner, Government ExecutivePresident Trump on Thursday signed an executive order authorizing a 1.9 percent pay increase for federal employees this year, retroactive to January, ending six weeks of waiting and speculation about when the measure would be implemented.
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- ADMINISTRATION DEFENDS PAY FREEZE TO CONGRESS FOR 2020 - March 27, 2019
- Trump's Top Budget Official Defends 2020 Pay Freeze to CongressBy Eric Katz, Government ExecutiveThe White House’s top budget official argued in favor of a 2020 pay freeze for federal employees, telling lawmakers on Tuesday the plan would free up agency heads to deliver merit-based pay.
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- THE CONSEQUENCES OF A HOLLOWED-OUT IRS WORKFORCE - MARCH 27, 2019
- A Hollowed-Out IRS Workforce Has Led to a 91 Percent Drop in Investigations of Non-Filing BusinessesBy Eric Katz, Government ExecutiveNearly a decade of budget and workforce cuts has led to the Internal Revenue Service leaving billions of dollars in revenue uncollected each year, a new report has found.
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- SENATE GOP BUDGET PROPOSAL FOR 2020 HARMFUL TO FEDS - March 25, 2019
- Senate GOP Proposes Drastic Budget Cuts, Retirement Contribution Hikes in 2020 BudgetBy Eric Katz, Government ExecutiveFederal agencies would see drastically reduced spending levels and their employees would see smaller paychecks thanks to higher retirement pension contributions under a fiscal 2020 budget proposal put forward by Senate Republicans on Friday.
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- ADMINISTRATION SHARES GUIDELINES ON POTENTIAL OPM-GSA MERGE - March 22, 2019
- Trump Administration Outlines How the OPM-GSA Merger Would WorkBy Erich Wagner, Government ExecutiveThe Trump administration this week provided additional details about how it will implement its proposal to integrate the functions of the Office of Personnel Management into the General Services Administration, Defense Department and the Executive Office of the President, although much remains contingent on Congress approving legislation.
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- 2019 PAY RAISE ALMOST READY TO BE IMPLEMENTED - March 21, 2019
- 2019 federal pay raise in final stages, Trump administration saysBy Nicole Ogrysko, Federal News RadioThe executive order and associated tables that will make the 1.9 percent federal pay raise official for civilian employees in 2019 is nearing completion, the Trump administration said Wednesday.
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- PROPOSED BUDGET HAS LITTLE ANSWERS ON OPM REORGANIZATION - March 20, 2019
- 2020 budget sheds little light on details behind the proposed OPM reorganizationBy Nicole Ogrysko, Federal News RadioThe General Services Administration is asking for $50 million in no-year appropriated funding to cover the initial costs of the Trump administration’s proposed reorganization of the Office of Personnel Management.
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- ADMINISTRATION PUSHES PAY FOR PERFORMANCE PLANS WITHOUT FUNDS TO MAKE IT HAPPEN - March 19, 2019
- White House Pushes Performance-Based Pay Without Any Money to Implement ItBy Erich Wagner, Government ExecutivePresident Trump again argued for an end to across-the-board pay increases for federal workers in his fiscal 2020 budget proposal, advocating that the government move to a performance based pay model. But there’s just one problem: There’s no extra money to implement such a change.
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- ADMINISTRATION INDICATING THE ELIMINATION OF PENSIONS FOR SOME FEDS - March 18, 2109
- Trump Administration Proposes Eliminating Pensions for Some New FedsBy Erich Wagner, Government ExecutiveA new line item in the Trump administration’s fiscal 2020 budget request this year would establish a new retirement program for some federal workers, Government Executive has confirmed. Under the new program, those workers would be enrolled in the Thrift Savings Plan, which operates similarly to a private sector 401(k) retirement plan, but would not be eligible for a federal pension.
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- RENEWED FEDERAL PAID FAMILY LEAVE ACT INTRODUCED IN CONGRESS - March 6, 2019
- Lawmakers' Renewed Push for Paid Family Leave for Feds Includes More Generous BenefitsBy Eric Katz, Government ExecutiveFederal employees would be entitled to 12 weeks of paid leave to care for themselves or family members under a new bill Democratic lawmakers put forward on Tuesday, marking an expansion to the long sought-after benefits for civil servants.
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- NOW THAT THE MSPB BOARD HAS NO MEMBERS, CAN IT STILL FUNCTION? - March 1, 2019
- Federal Employee Appeals Board's Doomsday Has ArrivedBy Eric Katz, Government ExecutiveThe quasi-judicial agency that determines federal employees’ challenges to adverse actions will no longer have any Senate-confirmed board members starting Friday, leaving its capacity to operate at all in question.
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- LAWMAKERS FROM BOTH PARTIES SEEK TO RE-ENACT LABOR-MANAGEMENT FORUM - February 27, 2019
- Lawmakers From Both Parties Seek to Revive Agency Labor-Management CouncilsBy Erich Wagner, Government ExecutiveA bipartisan group of House lawmakers is pushing to permanently reinstate councils aimed at improving collaboration between federal employee unions and agency leaders.
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- AGENCY REORGANIZATION PLANS IS LIGHT ON DETAILS - February 13, 2017
- Transferring Responsibilities and Consolidating Offices Highlight Trump Reorganization PlanBy Eric Katz, Government ExecutiveMore than one year after President Trump issued an executive order calling on all federal agencies to submit a comprehensive plan to reorganize and reform themselves, the administration has proposed what it is now calling a “first step” toward submitting those changes.The proposals were laid out in Trump’s fiscal 2019 budget, often focusing on consolidating administrative functions or merging various programs with similar functions, but not every agency detailed its plans. Some agencies put forward more specific ideas, such as shifting bureaus to new locations or transferring responsibilities to other agencies. The administration said more details would be forthcoming, pledging to create concrete goals and trackable metrics with “senior accountable officials” to oversee them.
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- BOTH STAFF CUTS AND BUDGET INCREASES FOR FY 2019 - July 13, 2017
Staff Cuts and Budget Increases Are Both on Tap for 2019
By Eric Katz, Government Executive
The Trump administration has provided federal agencies with the latitude to request up to a 5 percent funding boost in fiscal 2019, saying the White House may accommodate a “limited number” of programmatic increases in its final blueprint.
Generally, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said in a memorandum to department and agency heads, agencies should keep their 2019 spending requests in line with what the White House spelled out in the fiscal 2018 budget submission. They should also, however, “identify additional investments in effective programs that further support their mission and fill a clear federal role.”
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