Federal Daily - May 7, 2009

OPM Issues Notice of Pay Area Changes

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a final rule adjusting the geographic boundaries of Federal Wage System wage areas in 15 states and the District of Columbia. The OPM final rule, published in the May 4 Federal Register, is based on recent reviews of Metropolitan Statistical Area boundaries in a number of wage areas. OPM is redefining the wage areas in: Birmingham, Ala., Denver, Wilmington, Del., Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Columbus, Ga., Macon, Ga., Chicago, Bloomington-Bedford-Washington, Ind., Indianapolis, Ind., Louisville, Ky., Baltimore, Md., Hagerstown-Martinsburg-Chambersburg, Md., St. Louis, Mo., parts of Southern Missouri, Omaha, Neb., New York City, Philadelphia, Pa., Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, Pa., parts of Eastern South Dakota, Richmond, Va., and Milwaukee, Wis. The new pay areas are effective on May 4 and agencies are to place affected employees on their new wage schedule on the first day of the first applicable pay period beginning on or after June 3, 2009, the notice said. To see more, go to: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/E9-10177.htm.

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OMB Releases FY 2010 Budget Details

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was slated to release details of President Obama’s $3.55 trillion Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 budget proposal on May 7. Obama on Feb. 26 released a broad outline of his budget proposal, which promised big investments in energy, education and health care. That outline did not include agency-level spending amounts, which are normally part of the president’s budget proposal. When the outline was released, OMB officials said they needed more time to fill out the budget details because they were in the middle of transitioning to a new administration. The agency-to-agency numbers will be useful because congressional appropriators are beginning to work on their separate appropriation bills, OPM said. In addition to the FY 2010 budget Appendix—which will contain full programmatic details—OPM will release a separate volume of terminations, reductions and savings, highlighting the programs that Obama wants to eliminate or scale back. Next week, OPM will release the Analytical Perspectives volume, which provides additional information about fiscal policies—and a set of historical budget tables. To see more, go to: www.whitehouse.gov/omb/blog/09/05/04/ThisWeekinBudgetNews.

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USPS Releases Update Swine Flu Guidelines

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) released detailed guidelines on the measures postal employees may take to protect themselves from contracting the swine flu, according to documents posted May 5 on the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) Web site. The USPS material provides guidance to managers for various scenarios, including when there are no known cases of the flu in the community or among employees, when there is a known case in the community, where there is a confirmed or probable case involving a postal employee or their immediate household, and in the event the federal government declares “a pandemic in progress.”  To see more, go to:
http://apwu.org/news/webart/2009/09-054-flu_guidelines-090505.htm.

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