National Treasury Employees Union

Feds’ pay lags 22.5% behind private sector, the Federal Salary Council reports

New council recommendations would adjust several pay locality areas, but must get approval from the president’s pay agent before implementation.

Pay

Amelia Brust/Federal News Network

Senate Dems introduce bill to prevent Schedule F from resurfacing

Congress

FILE - This May 4, 2021 file photo shows the outside of the Internal Revenue Service building in Washington. Small businesses that have been buffeted by the pandemic, inflation and shipping woes have another challenge to add to their plate: taxes. Tax season can be complicated for everyone, but as the April 18 filing deadline looms, small business owners, contractors, entrepreneurs and others face even more rules and regulations that are ever-changing. The Internal Revenue Service has announced a backlog and warned that more delays are to be expected. The IRS said earlier this month it was hiring 10,000 workers to deal with a backlog of 23 million items triggered by limiting operations during the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

IRS gets $80B to ‘rebuild’ its capacity under Senate reconciliation deal

Hiring/Retention

Amelia Brust/Federal News Network

OPM, NTEU offer recommendations to improve relationships between agencies, unions

Unions

House committee pushes forward on encouraging federal telework expansion

Congress

FILE - This April 13, 2014, file photo shows the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) headquarters building in Washington. On Friday, Feb. 4, 2022, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly claiming The IRS will issue a fourth round of stimulus checks to Americans in February 2022. (AP Photo/J. David Ake, File)

IRS makes rare call to set higher gas reimbursement rate for rest of 2022

Benefits

Amelia Brust/Federal News Network

Employees at two headquarters offices vote to unionize

Unions

BLM workers elect to join federal employee union

Federal Newscast

NTEU calls for clearer FLRA guidelines to increase federal-labor efficiency

Unions

FILE - Voters arrive to cast the their ballots on Election Day at City Hall, Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021, in Alexandria, Va. The first major election day following a year of relentless attacks on voting rights and election officials went off largely without a hitch. The relative calm was a relief to those who oversee state and local elections, but election experts say that might not matter to the millions of Americans who now believe in conspiracy theories trumpeting rampant electoral fraud. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Federal employees can now take paid leave to vote and work at the polls

Federal Newscast

telework, work at home, office, federal employee

IRS brings teleworking staff back to office in phased reentry starting in May

Workforce

This Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021, photo shows a Social Security card in Tigard, Ore. Millions of retirees on Social Security will get a 5.9% boost in benefits for 2022. The biggest cost-of-living adjustment in 39 years follows a burst in inflation as the economy struggles to shake off the drag of the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

SSA hires retired staff to manage crowds at field offices as in-person service ramps up

SSA leadership anticipates higher than normal wait times for customers seeking assistance for at least the first month of the agency opening its doors…

Workforce

Biden calls for ‘vast majority’ of federal employees to return to office as COVID-19 conditions improve

President Joe Biden is calling for more federal employees to return to the office, saying “significant progress” made fighting the COVID-19 pandemic…

Workforce

IRS creates ‘surge team’ to address backlog, scraps plan to close tax processing center

Workforce

The IRS, already dealing with a significant backlog of tax returns and taxpayer correspondence, is scrapping plans to consolidate the number of facilities that process its paper workload.