Federal Daily - August 11, 2008

Lawmakers Rebuke Panel for Restricting Federal Pay

Four lawmakers issued a stinging rebuke Aug. 7 to the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee (FPRAC) for voting against a proposal that would have provided higher hourly rates for “blue-collar” federal workers in Rhode Island and Bristol County, Mass. At issue was a recent decision by the FPRAC against expanding the Boston locality pay area to all hourly federal workers in Rhode Island and Bristol County, according to a letter signed by Reps. Barney Frank, D-Mass., James McGovern, D-Mass., Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., and James Langevin, D-R.I. Currently, salaried federal white-collar employees in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts are included in the Boston locality pay area and paid according to the same salary structure as feds in the greater Boston area, the lawmakers said. The blue-collar workers, many of whom are employed by a Newport, R.I., naval base, remain in a separate, lower pay structure area, the lawmakers said. Last month, FPRAC voted against a proposal that would have shifted the Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts hourly federal workers into the Boston wage region. The alternative that was approved permits mergers only in cases involving hourly wage areas with a small number of workers, well below the number who work in the Rhode Island-Southeastern Massachusetts area, the lawmakers said. To see more, go to: www.house.gov/frank/worker080708.html.

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OPM Ups Excused Absence Days for Feds Returning from Deployment

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has expanded the amount of excused absence time agencies can grant federal civilian employees who return to their jobs following a deployment as a member of the National Guard or military reserve. Previously, OPM directed federal agencies to grant civilian employees five days of excused absence time upon their return from active military service. But the policy limited the five-day grant to a single deployment, OPM Director Linda Springer noted in an Aug. 7 memo. Because many of those in the National Guard or military reserve have served more than one deployment, OPM has changed the policy to allow agencies to grant the five-day leave time upon the return from every deployment, the memo said. National Guard or military reserve members who already have returned to work—and have not received five days of excused absence for a second or subsequent deployment—are also eligible for the leave, she said. To see more, go to: www.chcoc.gov/Transmittals/TransmittalDetails.aspx
?TransmittalId=1481.

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Lawmakers Seek Details of MSPB Whistleblower Protection Plan

Lawmakers are seeking details on how the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) plans to implement a new whistleblower protection effort that will allow employees to appeal their retaliation complaints to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). In an Aug. 5 letter to TSA Administrator Kip Hawley, Reps. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, and Christopher Carney, D-Pa., asked what protections the new initiative would offer Transportation Security Officers (TSOs). In announcing the plan last month, TSA said that the effort would help TSOs who are disciplined or fired for blowing the whistle. Previously, TSOs could file their complaints only with the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), whose decisions TSA could ignore. Under the agreement, a TSO now can appeal a complaint to MSPB once their OSC action is concluded. The lawmakers’ letter noted that the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the TSA and MSPB laid out basic contractual conditions, but was short on details on how it would directly benefit TSOs. “While we understand that setting these terms and conditions is an important step in implementing the agreement,” they wrote,” it is not clear how this interagency contract agreement can be lauded as having some direct benefit for TSOs.” Specifically, the lawmakers want to know if there will be a time limit for OSC to respond to complaints and what will happen to pending cases if the agreement is dissolved. Either side can back away from the MOA with 60 days notice, the letter said. To see more, go to: www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?ID=1316 or www.dhsunion.org/TSA/documents/TSA_MSPB_8-05-08.pdf.

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