FederalDaily - May 24, 2005
NTEU Requests FSA Extension for Feds
The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) called on the government last
week to provide federal employees the same improvement in Flexible Spending
Accounts (FSAs) it recently gave private sector employees. The Treasury Department
announced last week that employers could extend the deadline for use of their
FSA programs to pay health and dependent care expenses by 2 ½ months
after the end of the plan year. FSAs have a “use-it-or-lose-it” policy,
meaning any money left in the accounts at the end of the year is forfeited.
The new rule gives employees a little longer to use up the money. In a letter
to Office of Personnel Management Acting Director Dan Blair, NTEU President
Colleen Kelley wrote, “NTEU would respectfully request that the federal
government immediately and fully apply this to its own employees.”
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Unions Fight for Bargaining Rights at DHS
The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) and four other unions filed papers
on May 20 with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia saying
that new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) personnel regulations would
illegally restrict collective bargaining for DHS employees. The unions have
filed a lawsuit against DHS and the Office of Personnel Management, which aims
at stopping the agency from implementing the new regulations. DHS made a motion
to dismiss the lawsuit. In response, the unions filed the above-mentioned papers.
NTEU President Colleen Kelley said the regulations “establish a sham
system of collective bargaining” and would give DHS management unrestricted
authority on all conditions of employment.
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AFGE Wants VA Laundry Outsourcing Stopped
An American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) statement said the Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA) should stop its effort to contract out the laundry
services at the Pittsburgh Veterans Affairs Medical Center because “directly
converting federal jobs to contractor jobs is a violation of both federal law
and federal policy.” In a letter to VA Secretary James Nicholson, AFGE
said Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-76 states that agencies
are not allowed to privatize federal jobs without performing a formal cost
comparison study. AFGE has alleged that the Pittsburgh VA made the decision
to contract out the laundry services based on results from an illegal and informal
cost comparison study. Forty-four employees would be affected.
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Permanent TRICARE for Reservists Dropped
Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., said House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan
Hunter, R-Calif., stripped an amendment to provide permanent TRICARE coverage
for all Reserve personnel from the FY06 National Defense Authorization Act. In
a letter to members of the committee last week, Hunter said extending TRICARE
coverage to all Reservists would increase mandatory spending in FY 2006, a
violation of the Congressional Budget Act. An accompanying letter from
the Congressional Budget Office expressed concerns that federally-employed
Reservists would drop their coverage under the Federal Employees Health Benefits
program and switch to coverage under TRICARE, driving up premiums for other
federal workers and increasing corresponding costs to the federal government. “To
say that I’m disappointed is an amazing understatement,” said Taylor
.
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