The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on May 20 approved three separate measures affecting federal employee benefits and workplace issues. All three bills now move to the full Senate for a vote.
The panel passed S. 707, the Telework Enhancement Act of 2009, which would expand telework opportunities and create a uniform Office of Personnel Management telework policy for all agencies. A similar bill, which includes a 20 percent telework mandate, was introduced in the House in March. “As the recent outbreak of swine flu has demonstrated, telework is an important tool for ensuring the continuity of government services in the event of a national emergency,” said National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley, who supported the bill.
The Senate committee also approved S. 629, which would allow agencies to waive a requirement that federal retirees take a pay cut if they return to government on a limited part-time basis. Currently, federal employees who return to work after retirement must take a pay reduction to offset their federal retirement annuity. Reemployment would be limited to 520 hours in the first six months following retirement, and 1,040 hours in any 12-month period. Reemployed annuitants would be able to work a total of 3,120 hours before any offset to their annuity occurs.
Finally, the panel approved S. 469, which would revise Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) provisions for those who retire as part-time workers. Currently, there is an anomaly in the law which penalizes federal employees under CSRS who choose part-time work at the end of their careers by not calculating their annuities correctly. The change would put CSRS on par with the Federal Employee Retirement System.
Bill Would Extend Federal Benefits to Domestic Partners
A bipartisan measure introduced May 20 would—if signed into law—give same-sex domestic partners of federal employees the same benefits as the spouses of federal employees. Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Reps. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., sponsored the Domestic Partners Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009, identical to legislation introduced in the last Congress by Lieberman. Under the legislation, same-sex domestic partners of federal employees living together in a committed relationship would be eligible for health benefits, long-term care, federal retirement benefits, family and medical leave, and other benefits. The domestic partners of federal employees also would be subject to the same responsibilities that apply to the spouses of federal employees, such as anti-nepotism rules and financial disclosure requirements, the sponsors said. According to the Williams Institute at the University of California-Los Angeles, more than 30,000 federal workers live in committed relationships with same-sex domestic partners who are not federal employees. “Extending benefits to the domestic partners of federal employees is more than a matter of fairness,” said Baldwin, co-chair of the congressional Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Trangendered Equality Caucus. “As a majority of Fortune 500 companies have already demonstrated, equality and diversity in the workplace boost productivity and help attract and keep the most qualified employees.” To see more, go to: http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?Fuseaction=PressReleases
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GAO: USPS Must Reduce Workforce, Consolidate Mail Processing
To stave off financial ruin, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) needs to significantly trim its workforce, close some of its 37,000 postal facilities and consolidate its mail processing networks, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released May 20. Times are tough at the Postal Service, GAO said, noting that dropping mail volume has led USPS to project a financial gap of about $12 billion in Fiscal Year (FY) 2009, with an anticipated $1.5 billion cash shortfall. If nothing is done, similar losses are projected for FY 2010. Legislation pending in Congress could help maintain the Postal Service’s short-term solvency by reducing USPS payments for retiree health benefits by $2 billion in FY 2009 and $2.3 billion in FY 2010, GAO noted. But more needs to be done. GAO pointed out that the 760,000-member USPS workforce could shrink by almost half by FY 2013 through attrition if the Postal Service did not refill positions that will be left empty via retirement. “As USPS consolidates its operations, it can reduce costs and operate more efficiently with fewer employees,” the report said. “Reducing the size of its workforce is necessary to address the unprecedented declines in mail volume and help close the large and growing gap between USPS revenues and expenses.” USPS’s workforce generates close to 80 percent of its costs, the report said. Also, USPS can streamline its retail network by closing unnecessary facilities and promoting lower-cost alternatives such as purchasing stamps by mail, telephone and the Internet, GAO said. USPS also has substantial excess capacity in its mail processing network, the report said. “Closing postal facilities is often controversial but is necessary to streamline costs and eliminate excess capacity,” the report said. To see more, go to: www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-674T.
