Federal Daily - April 11, 2008

NTEU Applauds Efforts to Eliminate Private IRS Debt Collectors

The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) on April 9 applauded congressional efforts to eliminate an IRS program that pays private firms a bounty of up to 24 percent for collecting unpaid taxes. The House Ways and Means Committee approved a bill, introduced by Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., to end the program. “To continue this program is to continue a significant loss of revenue to the U.S. Treasury and America’s taxpayers,” said NTEU President Colleen Kelley, a staunch critic of the private debt collectors. The program has resulted in a loss of $50 million to the Treasury in its first year of operation and does not project breaking even until at least Fiscal Year 2010 at the earliest, the union said. In the Senate, Sens. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., sent a letter to new IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman seeking a prompt review of the program with an eye toward ending it. Both senators have sharply criticized the use of the private collectors. “We believe if you look objectively at the program’s operations,” they wrote, “its costs far exceed any claimed benefits.” To see more, go to: www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?ID=1245.

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Settlement Reached in 7-Year-Old USERRA Case

An Air National Guardsman who lost his federal job in 2000 while on active duty has settled his long-running Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) claim, the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) announced April 8. The complainant, Robert J. Traut, returned from active duty in the Alaska Air National Guard in June 2000, but was refused reemployment at his former job at the Department of Health and Human Services, Indian Health Service. He filed a USERRA complaint with the Department of Labor, Veterans Employment and Training Service (DOL-VETS), in November 2000. According to OSC, the case languished at DOL-VETS for four years until 2004, when the agency wrongly informed Traut his claim had been referred to OSC, which DOL-VETS said had declined to represent him. DOL-VETS then reopened the case in February 2006 and assisted Traut in finding a position with the Coast Guard in Kodiak, Alaska—without addressing the issue of lost back pay and benefits. OSC finally became involved in 2007, after Traut’s claim was discussed at a congressional hearing. The subsequent negotiated settlement will pay Traut a little more than five years of back pay with interest, as well as restore his basic federal retirement benefits as if he had been reemployed in June 2000. To see more, go to: www.osc.gov/documents/press/2008/pr08_03.htm.

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APWU Endorses Obama

The National Executive Board of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) has voted unanimously to endorse Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., for president, the union announced April 9. “Sen. Obama’s message is one of hope and change,” said union President William Burrus. “We are most impressed by Sen. Obama’s commitment to eradicating the undue influence of special interests in the political process,” Burrus said. APWU membership includes 258,000 career postal employees. To see more, go to: http://apwu.org/news/forthepress/pressrel080409_obama.htm.

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