Federal Daily - December 22, 2008

Executive Order Implements Pay Hike

President Bush signed an executive order Dec. 18 which puts in place the 3.9 percent pay hike for federal employees that was part of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 continuing resolution he signed in September. The 3.9 percent pay raise is 1 percentage point higher than Bush proposed in his FY 2009 budget and is in line with the pay hike awarded to military servicemembers. In the order, Bush allocated a 2.9 percent hike to statutory pay systems, including the General Schedule, and 1 percent increase to locality pay. The 2009 pay rates will become effective on the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after Jan. 1. The executive order also provides adjustments to pay for Executive Schedule, Senior Executive Service and other pay systems. The new salary tables are posted on the Office of Personnel Management Web site at www.opm.gov/oca/09tables/index.asp/. To see more, go to: www.chcoc.gov/Transmittals/TransmittalDetails.aspx?TransmittalId=1786

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FBI Ends Practice of Unwarranted Overtime for Agents in Iraq

The FBI says it has ended the practice of approving extensive overtime for FBI agents serving in Iraq after an internal investigation showed the system was abused and some agency employees were paid for watching movies, exercising and going to parties. The FBI Inspector General (IG) issued a report Dec. 18 that showed agents each billed an average of $45,000 in overtime during three-month tours in Iraq, claiming at least eight hours of overtime a day, every day, for the 90 days they were stationed in the war zone. Iraq FBI overtime amounted to $63 million in overtime between 2003 and 2007, the report said. In 2008, agency overtime costs in Iraq came to about $6.4 million. The FBI said in a statement that the generous overtime arrangement was the result of the 24/7 threat environment agents faced in the immediate aftermath of the invasion. “FBI employees lived with sniper attacks, mortar fire, and roadside bombs as part of their daily work environment,” the statement said. “They attempted to adapt a long established, domestic pay system for domestic law enforcement to unprecedented wartime assignments for FBI personnel.” However, the FBI noted that the liberal overtime arrangements had long outlived their usefulness. “A system that both fairly recognized employees and complied with pay statutes and other personnel regulations should have been put in place, but wasn’t,” the statement said. To see more, go to: www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel08/oig_overtimeresponse121808.htm.

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VA to Pay Snubbed Surviving Spouses

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on Dec. 18 announced it was taking steps to identify and pay surviving spouses snubbed when the VA mistakenly refused to make one-time compensation payments for the month in which their spouse died. This issue was brought up by Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, who pointed out that some spouses never received the benefit or were required to repay money that was rightly theirs. A new VA task force is in the process of reviewing VA’s payment records for veterans who died after Dec. 31, 1996, and who are survived by a spouse. The review will identify those to whom VA owes retroactive benefits for the month of the veteran’s death, VA said in a statement. Surviving spouses most likely to be affected by this processing problem are those who never applied to VA for survivors’ benefits following the death of a veteran, VA said. Because there are deceased veterans for whom VA does not have marital status information, a special Survivors’ Call Center has been established for spouses who believe they may be entitled to this retroactive month-of-death benefit. Surviving spouses can call the toll-free number, 1-800-749-8387. Inquiries may also be submitted through the Internet at www.vba.va.gov/survivorsbenefit.htm. To see more, go to: http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1629.

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