Pay & Benefits
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On this week's Your Turn radio show, host Mike Causey examines what's in the most recent budget deal that will impact feds.
December 11, 2013 -
Newly hired federal workers will be required to contribute more toward their pensions and some military retirees will see smaller cost-of-living adjustments under a budget deal announced by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) Tuesday evening. The budget deal, which sets funding levels for the next two years, eases some of the bite of the automatic spending cuts, known as sequestration. The pact restores about $63 billion to agency spending through the end of fiscal 2015, split about evenly between Defense and civilian agencies.
December 11, 2013 -
The two employee unions say lawmakers shouldn't make up for sequestration cuts by forcing federal employees to contribute more to their retirement. House and Senate legislators are working on a small-scale budget deal that reportedly includes a provision to alter federal retirement benefits.
December 06, 2013 -
Is the upcoming weekend a time for dinner, dancing and romance or are you going to curl up with a batch of health-insurance brochures? The latter might the smarter choice, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
December 06, 2013 -
Walton Francis, author of the Checkbook Guide to Federal Health Plans, will answer your calls and emails about open season. December 4, 2013
December 04, 2013 -
When veterans and their families, who receive disability compensation and retirement benefits from the Veterans Affairs Department, receive their annual cost-of-living increase next month, for the first time ever, it won't be rounded down to the nearest dollar. Overall, the COLA for veterans benefits will increase 1.5 percent. Until this year, the COLA for veterans' benefits was rounded down to the nearest dollar. That will change with payments beginning in January.
December 04, 2013 -
If you live a perfect lifestyle and your parents and grandparents celebrated their 85th anniversary in the Bridal Suite of your local Motel 6, you can skip today's column, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. Otherwise, listen up.
December 04, 2013 -
Requiring federal employees to contribute more of their salary toward retirement is rumored to be among the proposals being considered by the House-Senate budget conference committee as an partial alternative to the sequestration budget cuts. The proposal, which the Congressional Budget Office has concluded would increase federal revenues by nearly $20 billion over 10 years, has criticism from federal-employee unions. But now, at least one think tank, known for its hawkish stance on reducing the deficit, says the proposal could end up not saving the government a dime.
December 02, 2013 -
In most serious situations, it's good to have a fallback Plan B. When shopping for health insurance you need four of them, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
December 02, 2013 -
If you are like many federal workers -- and most retirees -- you won't do anything during the health-insurance Open Season, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. And that could be a very costly mistake, especially for workers and particularly retirees in the most popular plans: Blue Cross Standard option and Blue Cross Basic. Both are excellent but one costs nearly twice as much as the other.
November 29, 2013 -
Federal employees wanting to schedule "use it or lose it" annual leave only have a few days left before their excess vacation days are forfeited. The deadline to schedule excess annual leave is this Saturday, Nov. 30, Office of Personnel Management Director Katherine Archuleta reiterated in a Nov. 26 memo to agency chief human capital officers. The leave must be used by Jan. 11, the end of the leave year.
November 27, 2013 -
Suppose Congress passed a law requiring you to work an extra five years? You'd be furious, right? Suppose, because you are just plain cheap, you forced yourself to work an extra five years? Guess what? It happens every day, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
November 27, 2013 -
If Congress fails to act by the end of the year, a tax subsidy for commuters who use mass transit is set to drop from a maximum of $245 a month to $130. At the same time, fringe benefits for parking are set to rise to $250 a month starting in January. Two stand-alone measures in the House and Senate would restore parity between the parking and mass-transit subsidies
November 26, 2013 -
Should you and your significant other be in the same federal family health plan? Or should you each enroll in self-only plans? Think about it, because the health insurance hunting season closes Dec. 9, and picking the wrong plan could cost you big-time, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
November 26, 2013 -
A new bill would allow federal employees to contribute toward their retirement by investing only in companies deemed socially responsible. The "Federal Employees Responsible Investment Act," introduced this week by Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), would require the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board to add a "Corporate Responsibility Index" to the existing five investment options available to federal employees.
November 22, 2013