FederalDaily - May 16, 2005

New Rules for Retaining and Attracting Workers

In an attempt to help upgrade the federal work force, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has issued updated recruitment, relocation and retention payment authorities. The regulations stem from recently approved legislation allowing federal agencies to increase incentives to help attract and retain workers. The legislation also allows federal agencies to make the payments in installments, lump-sum payments or a combination of the two. OPM is inviting agency human resources specialists to a forum, where detailed information and practical examples on the application of the new recruitment, relocation, and retention incentive authorities will be presented. Revised fact sheets and examples of calculating payments are available at www.opm.gov/oca/pay/HTML/factindx.asp.

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Bill Bars Women from Combat Support

A bill making its way through the House Armed Services Committee would prohibit female soldiers in the Army from serving in combat support units. The amendment was approved Wednesday by a House Armed Services subcommittee on party-line vote. According to the amendment’s sponsor, Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., the proposal will only affect a small number of women serving in the armed forces. “The American people have never wanted women in combat and this reaffirms that policy,” said Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif. Democrats claim the plan would change the current makeup of the Armed Forces over time and is an affront to women’s rights in the military.

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Rusmfeld Announces Base Closings, Realignment

Department of Defense (DoD) Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced Friday his recommendation to close 33 major-military installations across the country in an attempt to realign the military towards a more modern fighting force. Claiming that current base alignments that were designed to fight the Cold War are outdated, Rumsfeld said the new plan will help DoD meet the demands of the 21 st century. According to DoD’s calculations, the closures and realignments will save the military $48 billion over the next 20 years. The plan also calls for the realignment of 29 major facilities and closing or realigning 775 smaller bases. The complete list of bases being considered for closure or realignment is available at www.defenselink.mil/brac/pdf/Appendix_C_FinalUpdated.pdf.

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Army Punishes Colonel Over Prison Abuse

The Army has fined and removed Col. Thomas Pappas from command of the 205 th Military Intelligence Brigade for his role in the abuse of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Pappas was fined $8,000 and a letter of reprimand will be placed in his file, according to a statement released by the Army. The ruling was handed down by Maj. Gen. Bennie Williams, who cited two instances of dereliction of duty in 2003 and 2004. Pappas’s brigade was charged with gathering intelligence and other information for prisoners being held at the prison. Last week, the Army demoted Army Reserve Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who was in charge of the military police stationed at Abu Ghraib.

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