Current news and events impacting the federal workforce, both current federal employees and federal retirees.
The new retirement savings vehicle that President Obama proposed in his state of the union address would give all Americans access to an investment that mirrors the G Fund inside of the Thrift Savings Plan, something previously only available to federal employees.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office warns of a wave of new retirements, saying that as much as one third of federal employees will be able to eligible to retire by September 2017. The report also notes that federal spending on total government-wide compensation has increased 10% over 8 years.
A Customs employee took his removal to arbitration and got it mitigated to a reprimand. The arbitrator refused, however, to grant attorney fees and the appeals court has now upheld that refusal.
Responses to a recent survey on FedSmith.com overwhelmingly indicate that readers believe that that the federal hiring process is ineffective.
Unions have a “duty of fair representation” to those who do not pay dues. The taxpayer should not foot the bill for union representation. Perhaps Congress should require federal employees who are part of the bargaining unit to pay union dues.
One can almost detect the appeals court’s exasperation with the Merit Systems Protection Board and the Office of Personnel Management as it sorts out this tangled mess involving one deceased Forest Service employee, two surviving spouses, lengthy state court litigation, and an effort by OPM to make one of the women reimburse annuity payments she received erroneously-even though she had already paid them over to the other spouse.
The author analyzes a recent case involving the EEOC which is being hailed as an important decision against what he calls “over-zealous prosecution by government entities.” He says it is evidence that adoption of a legal system under which the losing party pays the other party’s legal fees would be beneficial.
A retired federal employee who was a regular contributor to FedSmith, recounts his fight with cancer in his final article.
A decision from the MSPB may result in an award of as much as two million dollars in back pay, benefits, attorney fees, and retirement enhancements.
The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) announced two Senior Executive appointments at MSPB headquarters.
