FederalDaily.com > Add Roth 401(k) Option to TSP, Participants Say

FederalDaily - January 18, 2007

Add Roth 401(k) Option to TSP, Participants Say

Adding a Roth 401(k) option to the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) for federal employees would make it a more attractive program, said plan participants who responded to a Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) survey. Support for the Roth option was particularly strong among active servicemembers, said the survey results, which were released on Jan. 16. The assessment was taken to study opinions of federal employees about the TSP and to gauge participants’ reactions to some potential changes to the plan that are under consideration, FRTIB said. The survey was conducted in November 2006 through a paper-based mailing to the homes of a random sample of federal workers. Key findings include the conclusion that TSP participants are generally more satisfied with the plan than comparable employees in the private sector are with their 401(k) plans. Also, TSP participants generally favor adding additional investment options, but are very cautious about incurring additional costs. “They are very price sensitive to adding specific investment options, preferring to add options only if they cost the same as existing funds,” the survey results said. To see more, go to:
www.frtib.gov/FOIA/2006-TSP-Survey-Results.pdf.

APWU Approves New Contract

Members of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) ratified a new four-year contract with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) that provides restrained pay raises, continued cost of living adjustments and a reduction in USPS’ share of healthcare premiums. Under the new agreement approved Jan. 12, some 200,000 workers covered by APWU will get a 1.3 percent raise retroactive to last November, a one level salary upgrade in February 2008, and another pay raise of 1.2 percent in November 2009. New contract language will result in the conversion of approximately 10,000 part-time flexibles (PTF) and will eliminate Clerk Craft PTFs as a workforce category in some USPS offices. The Postal Service will pay 95 percent of healthcare premiums for employees enrolled in the APWU Consumer Driven Health Plan, effective in 2008. The employees’ share of healthcare premium costs in other plans will increase 1 percent each year in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, APWU said. “I consider this contract to be among our union’s strongest achievements,” said APWU President William Burrus. “Wage increases, upgrades and cost of living adjustments were secured, and ‘no-layoff’ protection and other benefits were continued.” To see more, go to: www.apwu.org/news/nsb/2007/nsb02-070112.htm.

Measure Would Fix Whistleblower Loophole

Lawmakers filed a bipartisan measure that would eliminate a government accountability loophole created last year when the Supreme Court—ruling in the case Garcetti v. Ceballos—voided certain public employee First Amendment protections. Members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Jan. 12 introduced the Federal Employee Protection of Disclosures Act, S.274, which restores certain free speech rights for government workers carrying out their job duties, and includes a general overhaul of the Whistleblower Protection Act. The bill was spurred by a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling last year that held that the Constitution does not protect public employees against retaliation by their supervisors for anything they say in the course of performing their assigned duties, said the Government Accountability Project (GAP), a whistleblower advocacy group that applauded the measure. “If the first 100 hours are reserved for leadership by Democrats,” said GAP Legal Director Tom Devine, “quickly restoring credible whistleblower rights should be enacted in the first minute of bipartisan consensus. To see more, go to: www.whistleblower.org.