Expert's View:
The Age Penalty and Early Retirement
With early retirement opportunities popping up in the Postal Service and the usual speculation about them elsewhere, a lot of employees are confused about how the age penalty would affect them if they were to retire before reaching their normal retirement age.
When it comes to retiring early, FERS employees have a big advantage over their CSRS counterparts. . . writes benefits expert Reg Jones.
Key Pay Group to Meet
The Federal Salary Council, a key advisory group on general schedule pay, is set to meet September 5 and 30. More
In Your Dreams Department
A congressional report earlier this year said that following federal pay law for the January 2009 general schedule raise would result in an average raise of 19.24 percent--from 31.03 percent in the Washington-Baltimore locality to 12.19 percent in the "rest of the U.S." catchall locality for GS employees outside the metropolitan pay zones. More
Update on Security Clearance Processing
An OPM official recently testified before a Senate panel on the timeliness of processing security clearances that are needed for many federal jobs. More
Pay for Performance Called a Mixed Bag
A report done for Congress on pay for performance systems in the federal government notes that some 300,000 federal employees are under such systems, which it said can be beneficial but "also may cause problems in an organization." The report from the Congressional Research Service noted, for example, that agencies including the Federal Housing Administration and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have credited their programs with increased retention of effective employees, increased overall productivity, cost savings and the attainment of organizational objectives. More
Fairness a Key Issue
The report said that for such systems to be successful, supervisors, employees and unions "must believe that a pay system is both fair and transparent. More
Funding, Pay Caps Also Important
CRS said that the size of the funding pool available for payouts is a primary consideration, since "if employees do not believe their performance will lead to a pay increase of a sizeable value, the system may not operate properly. More
EEO Complaints Down a Bit
Federal employees and job applicants filed somewhat fewer equal employment opportunity complaints in fiscal 2007, 16,363 compared with 16,723 in 2006 and around 18,000 complaints in 2005, EEOC has reported. More
Rates Vary Among Agencies
Of large agencies, those with more than 15,000 employees, the highest rates of complaints were filed at Education, HUD and Transportation, while among medium agencies, those with 1,000 to 15,000, the highest rates were at the Government Printing Office and EEOC itself. More
Postal Early Out Offers Being Made
The U.S. More
Expert’s View: The Age Penalty and Early Retirement
With early retirement opportunities popping up in the Postal Service and the usual speculation about them elsewhere, a lot of employees are confused about how the age penalty would affect them if they were to retire before reaching their normal retirement age, writes benefits expert Reg Jones. More
Federal Legal Corner: Cooperating in EEO Investigations
A federal employee who chose not to participate in her agency’s investigation of her EEO complaint found herself without a right to file a lawsuit against the agency because she "failed to exhaust" her required administrative remedies. More