Tony Reardon
-
The National Treasury Employees Union said agencies are responding to the Biden's administration's call to restore labor relations in a variety of ways. Some agencies are making plans to return to the bargaining table, while others haven't responded to requests to revisit previous contracts.
March 16, 2021 -
One agency warned retirees could wait as long as six months for an initial interim payment and up to a year for a full annuity. The National Finance Center said it plans to return to its goal of processing retirements cases within 30 days by the end of the month.
March 12, 2021 -
The $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package gives federal employees access to a new bank of paid leave, which will allow them to recover from COVID-19 and care for sick family members, or children who are learning virtually from home. President Joe Biden signed the relief bill into law Thursday afternoon.
March 10, 2021 -
The Agriculture Department's new telework policy will fall more closely in line with the program Secretary Tom Vilsack established when he first led USDA in 2014. The department is also considering a broader array of new remote work policies and flexible duty stations, which USDA said is one of its "highest management priorities."
March 08, 2021 -
Agencies that implemented policies from President Trump's 2018 workforce orders should work with federal unions to write new bargaining provisions, the Office of Personnel Management said Friday. OPM offered up more directions on how agencies should respond to a January executive order from the Biden administration that rescinded Trump's policies.
March 05, 2021 -
The IRS is bringing more employees back to the office to process tax returns, open mail and make sure eligible Americans receive their Economic Impact Payments.
February 25, 2021 -
President Joe Biden has named Kiran Ahuja to be his new director of the Office of Personnel Management. Ahuja previously served as OPM's chief of staff during the Obama administration, and she lead the president's Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
February 23, 2021 -
All 10 members of the Federal Service Impasses Panel either resigned or were removed this week. Clearing house at the panel was a major priority for federal employee unions, but reversing course from the 2018 executive orders is a more time-consuming and complex process.
February 04, 2021 -
President Joe Biden took executive action Friday to repeal at least four Trump-era executive orders that limited collective bargaining and stripped certain job protections from career federal employees.
January 22, 2021 -
The IRS estimates it will need $4 billion in multi-year funding over the next five years to meet the goals of the 2019 Taxpayer First Act and its IT modernization plan.
January 21, 2021 -
The IRS is sending a second wave of pandemic stimulus payments, preparing to open this year’s tax filing season and Implement its largest reorganization in decades under the Taxpayer First Act.
January 20, 2021 -
The National Treasury Employees Union said it will push agencies at the bargaining table, as well as the new administration and Congress through legislation or new policy, to consider making telework arrangements and remote work programs permanent.
January 18, 2021 -
The military's largest payroll provider said it will collect taxes that were deferred from employee and servicemember paychecks last year over the course of 24 installments in 2021. Other payroll providers have indicated they'll collect the 2020 deferred taxes from their employees on a slightly different schedule.
January 07, 2021 -
The latest COVID-19 relief package drew on some of the lessons agencies and lawmakers learned in implementing the first round of loans, payments and direct aid earlier this year. The IRS, for example, will receive access to the Social Security Administration's death master file in hopes of more accurately disbursing economic stimulus payments.
December 22, 2020 -
A provision in the 2021 omnibus spending package gives federal employees a full 12 months to repay the payroll taxes that have been deferred from their paychecks this fall. The spending package also silently endorses the president's original plan to give civilian employees a 1% federal pay raise next year.
December 21, 2020