furlough

• Furloughs: Can we ‘afford’ the savings?

  Senior Correspondent Mike Causey wants to know: If the score is 32,000 them and 0 you, do you change your game plan? If your significant other says no 32,000 times in a row, do you consider another tactic? Do Congress and the White House need a new playbook?

  Mike Causey

  June 19, 2014
• DoD needs updated cost savings data when considering furloughs

  A new Government Accountability Office report says the Pentagon needs more comprehensive information about potential cost savings when it considers implementing future administrative furloughs.

  Budget

  June 17, 2014
• When at first you don’t succeed … Give it up!

  When you try something 32,000 times, including 1,600 times in one 8-hour period and fail, there is a lesson there. And the lesson is that despite what you've read, heard and been taught, failure is an option. Especially if you work for the government, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.

  Mike Causey

  June 05, 2014
• Why feds keep losing their furlough appeals

  So far, all of the initial decisions stemming from the Merit Systems Protection Board gigantic caseload of furlough appeals have "affirmed the furlough action taken by the agency," according to MSPB's annual report for fiscal 2013 released last week.

  Budget

  June 04, 2014
• House NDAA amendment preemptively blocks some DoD furloughs

  A proposed amendment to the House version of the annual bill setting policy for the Defense Department would preemptively protect DoD employees paid through working-capital funds from potential furloughs. The measure was introduced Monday by Reps. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.).

  Budget

  May 20, 2014
• Agency budget squeeze eroding trust between employees, management

  Susan Tsui Grundmann, chair of the Merit Systems Protection Board, said many federal employees filed furlough appeals last year because they said they didn't trust that their managers were making the right spending decisions that could have fended off the need to furlough employees. This article is part of the Federal News Radio special report, Trust Redefined: Reconnecting Government and Its Employees.

  Federal Drive

  May 20, 2014
• From furloughs to hiring freezes, how did your agency deal with sequestration?

  In a new report provided to the House Budget Committee, the Government Accountability Office provides more details of just how agencies coped with the mandatory budget reductions under sequestration. Nearly every agency surveyed by GAO canceled or limited monetary performance awards for employees, reduced spending on both travel and training and curtailed hiring. A total of seven agencies furloughed employees.

  Budget

  March 11, 2014
• A look back and a look ahead at the clearance job market

  Evan Lesser, founder and director of Clearance Jobs.com will discuss the state of the clearance job market and what's ahead in the new year. December 20, 2013 (Encore presentation December 27, 2013 and January 3, 2014)

  Fed Access

  December 20, 2013
• Government shutdown cost feds 6.6 million days of work

  The 16-day government shutdown forced federal employees to miss millions of days of work, agencies to forego millions of dollars in revenue and programs to grind to a halt. In a new report, the Office of Management and Budget estimates that federal workers missed 6.6 million days of work and the shutdown cost more than $2.5 billion in pay and benefits for employees, most of whom didn't work.

  Budget

  November 07, 2013
• Pentagon says shutdown wasted at least $600 million

  A tally totaling the costs of the government shutdown on the Defense Department only includes lost work-hours from civilian furloughs, not additional government costs from interest payments, contract delays or other impacts from the shutdown. AFGE and NTEU are asking agencies to speed up back pay to federal workers.

  Congress

  October 18, 2013
• An open letter to federal employees

  "I certainly hope what happened to you never happens again," says former DHS CHCO Jeff Neal in an open letter to feds. "If it does, maybe we would be better off if we really shut down the whole government when the money runs out. Open the borders, ground the airplanes. Bring the troops home. Let our fellow citizens see what would really happen if you were not on the job every day."

  Congress

  October 17, 2013
• Funding bill includes back pay for furloughed feds, clears way for potential January pay raise

  The bill passed by Congress reopening the federal government after a two-week shutdown grants retroactive pay for furloughed federal workers and clears the way for all federal employees to receive a 1 percent pay raise in January. The continuing resolution, which funds government operations through Jan. 15, also grants agencies some spending flexibilities to avoid sequestration-related furloughs over the next few months.

  Budget

  October 17, 2013
• FAQ: Federal pay and benefits questions answered as feds return to work

  The Office of Personnel Management updated its operating status early Thursday morning to "open." OPM says furloughed employees are expected to return to work Thursday, absent other instructions from their employing agencies. The Office of Management and Budget issued guidance to department and agency heads early Thursday, instructing them to reopen offices promptly and recall all furloughed employees.

  Congress

  October 16, 2013
• Congress passes deal to reopen government, bill heads to President Obama

  The Senate and House both voted Wednesday night, passing a bill that reopens the government and funds agencies through Jan. 15, permits the Treasury to borrow normally through Feb. 7, and provides back pay for federal employees furloughed during the 16-day government shutdown. The bill now heads to President Barack Obama for his signature, which he has said he will sign immediately.

  Budget

  October 16, 2013