Federal Daily - June 26, 2009

House Approves FERS Sick Leave Bill

The House on June 24 unanimously approved a bill that would—if signed into law—give employees under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) credit for unused sick leave at retirement. The bill, H.R. 2990, the Disabled Military Retiree Relief Act, revives the sick leave credit after a similar measure which would have provided the benefit was stripped out of a Senate bill earlier this month. H.R. 2990 would permit FERS employees to count unused sick leave toward their retirement annuities like their Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) counterparts. For those under the older CSRS, the bill also would correct an anomaly in the law which penalizes federal employees who choose part-time work near or at the end of their careers and would allow FERS employees who return to federal service and redeposit their annuities to receive credit for years of service. The bill also would move federal employees in Alaska, Hawaii and outlying territories from cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) into the locality pay system, according to language in the bill. Transitioned employees would be able to elect to have any COLA paid during that period considered as basic pay for purposes of annuity computation, according to a bill summary. Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, applauded the measure. “These improvements will positively impact federal employees and retirees across the spectrum, from new hires to those nearing the end of their careers,” Kelley said. “This package will help ensure that federal workers are treated fairly and receive similar treatment regardless of their retirement system.” To see more, go to: www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?ID=1450.

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Akaka Calls for Tighter VA Medical System Controls

In the wake of a Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) medical scare that left thousands of veterans wondering if they had been exposed to diseases, Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawaii, called for more centralized controls over the sprawling VA medical system. In a June 24 hearing before the Senate Committee of Veterans’ Affairs, Akaka, the panel’s chairman, said that oversight of VA care had been needlessly shifted to VA facilities themselves. The hearing was held just after the release of a VA Inspector General (IG) report which showed that more than half of VA medical facilities failed surprise safety inspections. The unannounced visits were sparked by a VA warning in April, sent to almost 11,000 veterans, that they may have been exposed to diseases after undergoing endoscopies with improperly reprocessed equipment at three VA sites. “It is clear in the wake of these and other complaints that VA has become too decentralized,” Akaka said. “Oversight has been ceded to individual VA hospitals, with little to no direct oversight by VA’s central office.” Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., the committee’s top Republican, pointed out that VA had plenty of warning about the problems. “With multiple past incidents, multiple warning signs, multiple patient safety alerts, an ongoing Inspector General investigation and pending hearings on this issue, there is no possible justification as to why this still has not been corrected,” Burr said. “Veterans are still hesitant, and who can blame them?” To see more, go to: http://veterans.senate.gov/hearings.cfm?action=release.display&release_id=9fb12666-7478-4423-9e10-9159be0eec7a.

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Obama Objects to Measure Barring NSPS from Adding New Hires

President Obama objected to a House bill that would—if passed into law—prohibit new DoD civilian hires from being placed into the National Security Personnel System (NSPS). The language is part of H.R. 2647, the Fiscal Year 2010 National Defense Authorization Act, now pending before the House. In a June 24 “Statement of Administration Policy,” Obama said such a prohibition is “premature” in light of an ongoing review by DoD and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Obama noted that the DoD/OPM review is designed to produce recommendations to improve the pay-for-performance system. Lawmakers have complained that the system is not transparent and is unfair. The president said he was specifically concerned about DoD operations if no existing employees could be reclassified into NSPS as of June 16, as the bill laid out. Such a move “will cause significant, undue disruption to organizations currently operating under NSPS, potentially delaying the filling of thousands of positions and harming the department’s in-sourcing efforts,” the president said. Obama was also concerned over a provision that would terminate the Defense Civilian Intelligence Personnel System, part of the broader National Intelligence Civilian Compensation Program. To see more, go to: www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/sap_111/saphr2647h_20090624.pdf.

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