Office of Personnel Management
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With the partial government shutdown behind them, members of Congress are working on several bills that impact the federal workforce, including a resolution that supports ending the federal pay freeze and a bill that tackles the claims backlog at Veterans Affairs.
October 29, 2013 -
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.
October 16, 2013 -
Federal employees who are "excepted" from furloughs have remained on the job despite the government shutdown, which is now stretching into its third week. OPM updated its shutdown guidance Friday to include instructions on how to handle "brief or intermittent unpaid absences" by excepted federal employees. Overall, OPM has made more than a dozen changes to its shutdown guidance since congressional appropriations for fiscal 2014 lapsed two weeks ago.
October 14, 2013 -
About 5,800 federal employees filed retirement applications in September, according to new data provided from the Office of Personnel Management. That's some 2,600 fewer than OPM expected to receive and more than 6,000 fewer than submitted applications in September 2012. That unexpected drop allowed OPM to process more applications than it anticipated and to make significant progress clearing a longstanding backlog of cases.
October 04, 2013 -
The Office of Personnel Management has made it official: Lawmakers and their staff members are required to purchase health insurance from one of the Affordable Care Act's health-insurance exchanges --but the government will still contribute toward their premiums. OPM issued the final rule, which goes into effect immediately, Wednesday.
October 02, 2013 -
EPA also issues guidance to agencies, and OPM updates the governmentwide shutdown guidance.
September 26, 2013 -
Health premiums for federal employees are going up an average of 3.7 percent, according to the Office of Personnel Management. Postal Service employees, who separate negotiating rights over premiums, will see, on average, a 3.8 percent increase.
September 24, 2013 -
The same company that performed National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden's background investigation also performed a check of Aaron Alexis, the IT contractor who shot and killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard Monday. The Office of Personnel Management said it believes Alexis' background check was complete and that the Defense Department signed off on the results of the background check.
September 20, 2013 -
Former OPM director introduces himself to his new Australian neighbors through State Department-produced video. Through Facebook comments, Aussies welcome new ambassador and spouse.
September 19, 2013 -
Key senators on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee are seeking answers into how the contractor employee responsible for the mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard that killed 12 people obtained his security clearance. In a Sept. 18 letter, Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.), requested the Office of Personnel Management's inspector general look into what type of clearance the shooter, identified as 34-year-old Aaron Alexis, held as well as what federal agency conducted his background investigation.
September 18, 2013 -
The General Services Administration will focus on its core mission and let others provide payroll and human resources services. The decision comes as shared services is gaining momentum as OPM is pumping some energy back into the HR line of business, and the Interior will release a new geospatial platform to host data and applications.
September 13, 2013 -
The Office of Personnel Management processed more retirement applications than expected last month -- for the first time since April. The enhanced processing power is thanks to a year-end budget review that allowed OPM to restore limited overtime for employees working in its Retirement Services Offices, OPM said. The agency had suspended employee overtime beginning in April, citing the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration.
September 05, 2013 -
NARFE's David Snell will discuss the impact of a proposed change to how federal retirees' cost-of-living adjustments are calculated. September 4, 2013
September 04, 2013 -
The launch of state insurance exchanges will have little impact on most federal employees, the Office of Personnel Management says. It's a different story for OPM, itself, however. Due to its experience managing the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, OPM has been tasked with managing a part of the new health exchange system.
August 29, 2013 -
Hundreds of thousands of federal employees are not entitled to a key civil-service protection under a recent ruling by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington. Andres Grajales, deputy general counsel for the American Federation of Government Employees who represented two federal employees in the case, said the ruling gives agencies a weapon against employees.
August 27, 2013