Pay & Benefits

  • Is your federal health plan heading for the sick list? Could premiums go up and benefits be reduced in the future? That is very possible now that members of Congress and their law-writing staff members will be moving out of the cradle-to-grave FEHBP into state exchanges next year.

    August 12, 2013
  • Debra Roth hosts a press roundtable on the big issues affecting federal workers. August 9, 2013

    August 10, 2013
  • Several hundred thousand federal workers, from Defense to the IRS and OPM are still wearing golden handcuffs, which many are trying to shed. They include some of Uncle Sam's best, brightest and most experienced people, says Senior Correspondent Mike Causey.

    August 09, 2013
  • NARFE legislative director Jessica Klement and Sean Reilly from the Federal Times will discuss several bills pending in Congress that would affect federal workers and retirees. August 7, 2013

    August 07, 2013
  • Congress and some congressional staff members will no longer be eligible for the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, when The Affordable Care Act goes in to effect in January. OPM explains what that means.

    August 07, 2013
  • When our mothers told us we were precious and irreplaceable it was a warm and fuzzy feeling. But are you really one-of-a-kind at work? What's likely to happen to your organization, and the government in general, when you leave?

    August 07, 2013
  • Planning to retire someday? Before you sail off into the golden years, here are some tips from recently retired feds: Don't do it! Check out Senior Correspondent Mike Causey's Federal Report for more.

    August 07, 2013
  • Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Or is it a sequestration-driven furlough tsunami that threatens to bury one very small, but important, federal agency that is seeing its 30-year workload record being shattered almost daily, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.

    August 06, 2013
  • The National Treasury Employees Union supports the general idea of phased retirement but has taken issue with some of the specifics set out by the Office of Personnel Management in its draft regulations. NTEU President Colleen Kelley says the rules, in their current form, require would-be phased retirees to have 20 years of experience, which could limit the number of employee eligible for the program. NTEU is also concerned about the lack of an appeals process for feds deemed ineligible for the option.

    August 05, 2013
  • For the third month in a row, the Office of Personnel Management failed to meet its monthly goal for processing retirement claims. OPM's backlog now sits at 25,601 claims, up slightly from June. OPM blames its reduced processing power on the automatic, across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration. To comply with the budget shortfalls, OPM was forced to suspend overtime for its employees in its Retirement Services division starting April 28.

    August 05, 2013
  • The Office of Personnel Management now estimates it will not be able to clear a longstanding backlog of retirement claims until next summer. OPM Associate Director for Retirement Services Ken Zawodny told Federal News Radio the suspension of overtime in late April has left the agency essentially treading water when it comes to processing retirement applications.

    August 05, 2013
  • How can you tell the difference between a current government worker and a retired civil servant? One of them is smiling, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. Think about it, prices have gone up, taxes have gone up, health premiums have gone up -- but feds at the Pentagon, HUD, Interior and other agencies haven't had a raise in three years.

    August 05, 2013
  • The Senate postal reform bill calls on the Office of Personnel Management to change the way it calculates how much the U.S. Postal Service must pay into the Federal Employees Retirement System and the Civil Service Retirement System. The change could result in a $6 billion surplus for the debt-burdened USPS.

    August 02, 2013
  • The House passed the Stop Government Abuse Act Thursday by a vote of 239-176. The bill is part of a Republican legislative package aimed at slashing government waste and abuse.

    August 02, 2013