March 12, 2008
A summary of daily news relevant to the federal workforce produced by the Partnership
for Public Service.
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Feds Urge the Next President to Communicate
Federal Computer Week
By Wade-Hahn Chan
Feds want the next president to communicate with
nonpolitical agency employees and to quickly establish an agenda.
A group of federal employees, contractors, union representatives and workforce experts participated in a discussion held today by the Partnership
for Public Service, and agreed that strong leadership and good two-way communication between Cabinet-level political appointees and career civilian
feds are crucial.
"Federal employees are a cheap date," said Ron Sanders, chief human capital officer at the Office of the Director for National Intelligence. "Do
those things [and] we'll follow you wherever you go."
The purpose of the discussion was to analyze top management problems.
One of the major issues is the growing number of contractors in the government. Some participants said workforce systems in place make it
difficult to attract and retain young employees. Sometimes agencies have needed to hire contractors to run essential agency processes, a development
that alarmed some on the panel.
"We're worried about [agencies] contracting out their brains," said Scott Cameron, director at Grant Thornton.
Some saw reform of the General Schedule pay system as a possible solution, but the discussion evolved into a debate between union representatives
and officials from the Defense Department and the Office and Management and Budget on the merits of pay-for-performance systems.
However, most agreed that getting agency employees to trust their managers to make decisions about how to rewards its employees fairly --
performance pay or not -- was the most important ingredient in retention.
The three major presidential candidates have weighed in on the government workforce. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) promised to
cut 500,000 contractor jobs, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) pledged to reorganize the workforce when the baby boomer retirement wave hits and Sen. Barack
Obama (D-Ill.) supports increased funding for workforce training and development.
DoD Goal: Begin performance pay for union employees in fall '09
Federal Times
By Stephen Losey
The
Defense Department expects to start bringing its first bargaining-unit employees under its performance-pay system by fall 2009, the program's
executive officer said March 11.
Mary Lacey said that Defense expects to outline rules for how it will bargain with unions over pay-for-performance this fall, and then start
negotiating with national unions shortly thereafter to bring bargaining-unit employees under the National Security Personnel System (NSPS).
A series of lawsuits and legislation has delayed the inclusion of bargaining-unit employees in NSPS, which will cover about 181,000
nonbargaining-unit employees by the end of this spring. Unions maintained that NSPS unfairly infringed on their collective bargaining rights, and
they unsuccessfully sued for stronger rights. But in December, Congress stepped in and passed a Defense authorization bill that protected
employees’ bargaining rights. The bill also specified that Defense would negotiate with unions at the national level, and not locally, which
Lacey said would have been far too complicated.
"I would not hold your breath, that we're going to see large numbers of locals that want to come under NSPS immediately, although we have had some
approach us that want in now that they've seen what's been going on," Lacey said. "It's probably, at best, next spring before you see some
organizations ready to be brought in. But I am more realistically thinking it will be fall of '09."
Lacey made her comments before a forum of the Federal Managers Association.
Saving Sick Time
Government Executive
By Brittany Ballenstedt
Legislation introduced Monday would allow more federal employees to cash out their accrued sick leave at retirement, but it may not be the benefit
many had hoped.
The bill (H.R. 5573), introduced by Rep. James Moran, D-Va., would provide employees under the Federal Employees Retirement System with a one-time
payment of up to $10,000 for any remaining sick leave at retirement. FERS retirees would receive 15 percent of the hourly rate of their final salary
for any sick leave balance of more than 500 hours.
But based on several readers' comments, the proposed benefit does not go far enough. Many argue that offering 25 percent to 50 percent of the
hourly rate is more generous.
All federal employees receive 13 days of sick leave annually and can carry over unlimited amounts of sick leave from year to year. But unlike
employees under the previous Civil Service Retirement System, FERS employees are not able to convert unused sick leave at retirement to increase
their yearly annuity.
CSRS retirees have not always been able to cash out remaining sick leave at retirement, however. In 1969, Congress added the sick leave benefit to
CSRS after data showed that the use of sick leave rose dramatically near the time of retirement. Reports by the Civil Service Commission -- the
forerunner to the Office of Personnel Management -- found that federal employees retiring before 1969 used an average of 40 sick days in their final
year.
History is repeating itself. In a recent survey, 85 percent of CSRS employees said they conserved as much sick leave as possible, while 75 percent
of FERS employees said they would use as much sick leave as possible. Many management groups believe that the sick leave issue caused by the two
retirement systems has hampered productivity, largely because employees nearing retirement are calling in sick rather than training and mentoring the
employees who will succeed them.
While some FERS employees are disappointed with the proposal, it's worth noting that the benefit is slightly more generous than Moran's original
plan. On Friday, he decided to boost the hourly rate percentage from 10 to 15 percent.
Still, whether the proposed benefit is sufficient to deter FERS employees from burning through their leave remains in question. "The only solution
to this issue is to make the treatment of sick leave the same for FERS as it is in CSRS," one employee said in an e-mail. "Then everyone is treated
the same on this issue and is encouraged to not fake illness."
Whether the Bush administration will weigh in on FERS sick leave also is unclear. "OPM has provided some technical assistance at the request of
congressional staff, but the administration has not yet taken a formal position or commented on the bill," an OPM spokesman said Wednesday.
Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, supports the proposal as "a reasonable and welcome step to correct some of the
disparity in treatment for FERS retirees."
One employee wrote in an e-mail that he will be pleased with the benefit should it pass. "I am a federal employee under FERS, and I have over 900
hours of sick leave," he wrote. "My plan is to retire this year, and I have always been honest by taking sick leave only when I am sick."
TSP Trading
Officials overseeing the Thrift Savings Plan are requesting comments on a proposal that would limit the number of interfund transfers that
participants are able to conduct each month.
The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board on Monday published interim regulations in the Federal Register that would allow two unrestricted
transfers each month, followed by unlimited opportunities to transfer amounts to the Government Securities fund.
TSP officials called their approach to the restrictions "more liberal" than most other plans and mutual funds. The comment period on the proposal
ends April 9.
"The agency's proposal will affect a very small number of participants," the notice said. "The agency expects that, when coupled with our outreach
efforts, this structural limit of two per month will virtually eliminate the problems associated with frequent interfund transfer activity."
Celebrate Public Service with the Washington Capitals!
Join the Washington Capitals and the Partnership for Public Service as they celebrate America's dedicated public servants, and
cheer the Capitals on to victory as they square off against the Atlanta Thrashers on March 14.
In appreciation of the dedicated service
of our federal employees, the Washington Capitals are offering discounted tickets. Click here to buy tickets through the Partnership for Public Service. You do not need to be a federal employee to receive this
discount.
Date: Friday, March 14
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Verizon Center, Washington, D.C.
Cost:
Mezzanine Corners: $19 (Normally $22)
Mezzanine Center: $34 (Normally $50)
Lower Level Loge: $45 (Normally $75)
