Federal Daily - February 15, 2008
Senator Urges Treasury to Adopt ‘Veterans First’ Hiring
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, asked the Treasury Department to make a commitment to hire 1,000 veterans
of the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for anticipated vacancies at IRS next year. In a Feb. 13
letter to Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Grassley sought support for a “veterans first” hiring
plan he presented last month at a confirmation hearing for Douglas Shulman, the nominee to be IRS commissioner.
Shulman said he would consider Grassley’s proposal. Grassley pointed out that IRS says it needs
to hire about 3,300 revenue agents and 4,600 tax examiners by next year to replace departing employees. In
2006, veterans made up 22 percent of new hires in federal agencies on average, but at the Treasury
Department it was only 6 percent. Grassley wants to change that. “The vacancies at the Internal
Revenue Service are a very good opportunity to make the situation right, especially for disabled veterans
who have served our country so honorably,” Grassley said. To see more, go to: http://grassley.senate.gov/.
:: Back to Top ::
SEC Temporarily Separates Performance Management, Merit Pay
All Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) employees who receive an “acceptable” performance
rating will receive an “equivalent share” of available SEC merit pay increases after the
agency temporarily separated its performance management and merit pay systems, said the National Treasury
Employees Union (NTEU). Union President Colleen Kelley issued a statement on the issue Feb. 13 after
a senior SEC official testified about the move at a House subcommittee hearing on alternative pay systems.
He did not specify a percentage amount. NTEU has long been a critic of the SEC merit pay system and
last fall won an arbitrator’s ruling that said the system illegally discriminated against groups
of employees based on age and race. The NTEU grievance in that instance covered the 2003 performance
period—grievances are pending for each year since then. “It has been clear for some time
that the SEC system, as it has been designed and implemented, needs to be significantly revamped so
that it is fair, credible and transparent,” Kelley said. To see more, go to: www.nteu.org.
:: Back to Top ::
Bill Would Offer Stranded Guard, Reserves Free Trips Home
Under a new Senate bill, National Guard and reserve troops would get free trips home if while away
they are placed on leave because of training suspensions or staffing issues. The bill, S 2623, introduced
by Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., would allow DoD to pay for such travel. The bill would apply to situations
where a reserve member is more than 300 miles from home and has been placed on leave for more than
96 hours, Nelson said in a Feb. 13 statement. The bill comes in response to an incident last Christmas
when about 40 members of the Nebraska National Guard were stranded at Fort Lewis in Washington after
their training exercises were suspended. They did get home, however, after a private group rounded
up donations to cover travel expenses. The Guard members were “told that DoD had no authority
to pay for their travel home,” said Nelson. To see more, go to: http://bennelson.senate.gov/news/details.cfm?id=292854&&.
:: Back to Top ::
|
