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FederalDaily - January 13, 2006

CORRECTION

In the Jan. 9, 2006, issue of Federal Employees News Digest, the brief titled “TSP Participation Grows” stated that the administrative cost for the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is .05 percent, or $50 per $1,000 of an account balance. The percentage was correct (.05 percent). However the calculation was incorrect; it is not $50 per $1,000, rather the administrative cost is $.50 (as in 50 cents) per $1,000.

Veterans’ Employment in Government

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) recently issued its latest report on veterans’ employment, which found that veterans represented 19.1 percent of all new hires in the federal government and 33.6 percent of all full-time permanent new hires. OPM said the FY 2004 report also found:

As of Sept. 30, 2004, the federal government employed 4,716 more veterans than in FY 2003.

Compared to the civilian labor force, the federal government employs more than two times the percentage of veterans, three times the percentage of Vietnam-era veterans, over six times the percentage of disabled veterans and over seven times the percent of 30-percent-or-more disabled veterans.

All executive departments exceeded the private sector representation rates for 30-percent-or-more disabled veterans.

Navy Employee Suspended for Hatch Act Violations

In Pennsylvania, a Navy employee has been recommended to be suspended without pay for 60 days for violating the Hatch Act, the law that prohibits engaging in political activity while on duty or in a federal building. In December, an administrative law judge (ALJ) for the Merit Systems Protection Board granted the Office of Special Counsel’s petition for disciplinary action against Rocky Morrill. The ALJ found that, while on duty and in a federal building, Morrill, at the time president of an American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) local, sent an e-mail with an attached announcement for a “Halloween party for Tim Holden,” a congressional representative seeking reelection. Morrill sent the e-mail to more than 300 co-workers and other individuals. The ALJ further noted that Morrill was warned at least twice by his employing agency.

IRS Plans to Cut Services Halted

Congress has halted IRS plans to reduce resources dedicated to taxpayer customer service, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) announced Wednesday. The union said the move would have reduced taxpayer telephone assistance by 20 percent, or fifteen hours per week. Congress sided with NTEU in saying that the 2006 Defense Appropriations and Transportation-Treasury Appropriations bills prohibited the IRS from implementing the reduction in service. “It has long been clear to NTEU and many others that most taxpayers want to comply with the tax code but they need help to do that,” NTEU President Colleen Kelley said. The National Taxpayer Advocate, an independent agency, recently submitted its annual report to Congress, which also pointed to customer service cutbacks as a top concern.

Who Should Conduct Wiretap Investigation?

It seems like an investigation of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) recently-exposed domestic espionage is a hot potato—no one wants the job. On Dec. 20, 38 congressmen, led by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., asked the inspector generals at the Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Defense (DoD) as well as the Government Accountability Office to investigate whether the NSA’s domestic wiretaps, in absence of court orders, were legal. In response, on Jan. 4, DOJ Inspector General Glenn Fine said such an investigation was outside of his office’s jurisdiction, and should instead go to DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility. But Lofgren disagreed, saying the investigation was Fine’s responsibility under the Inspector General Act. On Jan. 10, DoD Acting Inspector General Thomas Gimble wrote to Lofgren saying that NSA’s own inspector general was handling the investigation.