Workforce News 
Top News
- 5 percent of federal workers to be furloughed Friday
- Congress pressures agencies to speed up office consolidations
- Katherine Archuleta chosen as next OPM director
- Data breach puts DHS workers at risk of identity theft
- DoD chooses interoperability over integration for new e-health record system
- House GOP panel moves on deep budget cuts
- OMB fuels synergy between mobile, open data
- IRS official Lerner: 'I did nothing wrong'
- Accountability breakdown leading factor in DoD sexual assaults
- OMB reworking financial system requirements
- Federal retirement funds temporarily tapped
- VanRoekel to lead OMB management team
- Meet the 2013 Service to America Medal finalists
- Thursday federal headlines - May 23, 2013
Work time spent on union activities at a 7-year high for feds
OPM issued its fiscal 2011 Official Time report. The data shows employees, on average, spent 2.82 hours on union-related work during official hours. The cost of official time also increased by almost 12 percent.
Fun stuff: waxing presidential
Federal News Radio's Beth Reardon speaks with Recreation News Editor Marvin Bond about fun things to do in and near the nation's capital.
House votes to extend pay freeze for fed workers
House votes to extend pay freeze for federal workers, White House opposes
Furloughs? Or French-kissing feds?
Many federal workers are concerned that the stalemate between Congress and the White House will mean furloughs, and the loss of pay, for them, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. But a growing number seem to be saying bring it on ... I'll go hiking, camping or do some chores around the house.
What could possibly go wrong?
Having set up the sequestration system that will trigger draconian automatic spending cuts, both political parties now say it shouldn't happen, that furloughs would have a catastrophic impact on the economy, national defense, maybe even the weather So, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey wants t know: What does it look like from where you stand -- and work.
Obama again nominates pair to labor board
President Barack Obama has again nominated two members of the National Labor Relations Board whose appointments last year were disputed by a federal appeals court.
Pay freeze bill heading for House vote
The House Rules Committee voted to fast-track legislation extending the pay freeze for federal employees through the end of the fiscal year. Federal workers are now slated to get a 0.5 percent pay increase in March when a stopgap continuing resolution expired. However, the measure approved by the House Rules Committee, introduced by Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), would block that increase.
Military issues dire warnings of readiness crisis, decries political gridlock
Among the warnings the military's top uniformed officers delivered to the Senate Tuesday: Half of Marine Corps units will fall below readiness standards by the end of the year, the Army will have to curtail training for 80 percent of its ground forces and shipyards are already becoming short-staffed because of DoD's hiring freeze.
Asteroid strike, furloughs - it's always something
Can you take vacation if you are furloughed? Answer: No! What about sick leave? Only if you promise to die to prove you are really sick. And to cap out the week, an asteroid the size of a small skyscraper is coming very close to Earth on Friday, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
Feds as roadkill
Politicians who are beating up on federal workers are doing a pretty good job of it. Friends of feds are few and far between, maybe even on the endangered species list, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. So what's next?
Could cutting service contracts avert sequestration furloughs?
In an analysis prepared for the American Federation of Government Employees, contracting expert Charles Tiefer said that agency managers have a number of tools at their disposal to legally scale back service-contract spending and that doing so would be preferable to federal furloughs.
Furlough follies: Gone but not forgotten
In the past, when federal workers were furloughed they were told to stop working and go home until further notice. If you were out of town, you were to return ASAP, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says. But what happens if the furlough is one day per week and you are on an assignment to Atlanta or Antarctica?
Fun stuff: getting sappy
Federal News Radio's Beth Reardon speaks with Recreation News Editor Marvin Bond about fun things to do in and near the nation's capital.
The ATF and gun dealer regulation
Fred Schulte, investigative reporter for the Center for Public Integrity will discuss an article he's written on the ATF's inability to close down firearms dealers who are violating gun laws.
February 8, 2013
Telework: Creating a more mobile federal workforce
Bill Bransford hosts a roundtable discussion of how teleworking can benefit your agency.
February 8, 2013
OMB details widespread furloughs, cuts to agency programs under sequestration
OMB details hundreds of thousands of furloughs and cuts to nearly every agency program. Danny Werfel, OMB controller, said the effective percentage cut to each civilian agency would be about 9 percent and 13 percent for DoD over the next seven months.
Furlough-proof your retirement
Members of the House of Representatives who think their congressional districts are the polar opposite of Washington, D.C., would be wise run the numbers before they start slashing the pay of "bloated bureaucrats" and contractors who make up a big portion of their voting-age workforce, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
IRS budget woes, shrinking staff threaten to derail agency
As the Internal Revenue Service prepares to enter tax season full-bore, the agency is faced with a tightened budget, a shrinking workforce and an ever-more complex and increasing workload. That combination, along with leadership changes at the top of agency, threatens to upend the gains IRS has made over the past few years to better manage its workforce, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, an agency watchdog.
USPS employees to see less overtime, more buyouts under 5-day delivery plan
Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said the service can no longer afford to delivery first class mail six-days a week. He said cutting back by one day a week would save about $2 billion a year. USPS still would have a $14 billion deficit and needs help from Congress to address other fiscal challenges.
22,001 reasons for cash stash
Most financial gurus recommend we all have an emergency cash stash for a rainy day. For federal workers and federal contractors, that could be sooner rather than later thanks to possible furloughs and a tidal wave of retirements, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey says.
