FederalDaily - July 14, 2005
Congressmen Decry New Personnel Systems
At a rally in Washington, D.C., on July 12 organized by the United DoD Workers
Coalition, an alliance of labor unions representing civilian defense workers,
hundreds of federal workers protested new personnel systems that would affect
employees at the Departments of Defense (DoD) and Homeland Security (DHS).
At the rally, Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said the new personnel rules “will
significantly limit basic employee rights and protections, including collective
bargaining rights of employees.” Also at the rally was Rep. Walter B.
Jones, R-N.C., who said, “The National Security Personnel System (NSPS)
[at DoD] will create a situation in which workers are in conflict with one
another and afraid to speak out about harassment, violations of the law and
workplace safety problems.”
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New Regs for Retired, Disabled Vets
The Department of Veterans Affairs proposed to amend its regulations concerning
concurrent receipt of military retired pay and veterans’ disability compensation
in the July 7 issue of the Federal Register. A new law permits certain veterans
who are entitled to military retired pay and are receiving disability compensation
for a service-connected disability or disabilities rated at 50 percent or higher
to receive disability compensation as well as their military retired pay. The
intended effect of the proposed regulation is to clearly state who is eligible
for concurrent receipt of disability compensation and military retired pay,
who must still waive military retired pay to receive disability compensation,
and how to file such a waiver. Comments must be received on or before September
6, 2005.
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Army Reserves Struggling
The Department of Defense (DoD) cannot meet its global commitments without
continued reserve participation. But the Government Accountability Office (GAO)
recently reported that while the Army Reserve has provided ready forces to
support military operations since September 11, 2001 , it is becoming increasingly
difficult for the Army Reserve to continue to provide these forces due to personnel
and equipment shortages. The three primary causes of these shortages are (1)
the practice of not maintaining Army Reserve units with all of the personnel
and equipment they need to deploy, (2) current DoD and Army personnel policies
that limit the number of reservists and length of time reservists may be deployed,
and (3) a shortage of full-time support staff to maintain unit readiness. These
challenges are compounded by emerging recruiting shortfalls, GAO found.
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Open Season Proposed for G.I. Bill Benefits
Several congressmen recently introduced The Montgomery G.I. Bill Second Chance
Act. Currently, servicemembers only have one chance to sign up for G.I. bill
education benefits—when they enroll in the military. The new bill would
allow military personnel who initially opt out of the program to sign up during
an “open season” held every year in October. Military personnel
who enroll through the Second Chance Act would pay the same $100 monthly fee
for 12 months, without assessing any penalties, like those who previously enrolled
in the program. The Montgomery G.I. Bill provides up to $28,800 towards continuing
education for military veterans.
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