May 25, 2011 — Proposed changes from Congress and the White House could affect federal employees’ pay, benefits, and retirement in the years ahead.

The administration is seriously considering plans to force feds to pay more toward their retirement. If implemented, that would permanently reduce take-home pay five to six percent for four out of five current civil servants.

There is also serious talk of changing the retirement formula (from the high-3 back to the high-5) which would reduce anticipated (promised?) annuities or force people to work longer to get the benefits they had expected.

Another money-saving idea would gradually raise employee contributions to health insurance premiums (now about 30 percent). That would also reduce take-home pay and could force some workers to switch from so-called “Cadillac health plans” to less costly (and in some cases less comprehensive) coverage.

On this week’s Your Turn Steve Watkins, editor of the Federal Times, and senior writer Steve Losey, join host Mike Causey for a discussion on all of these topics.

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