Show notes
Today’s episode is a round up of news items impacting the Federal HR community.
First up on the podcast is the 2019 pay increase for federal employees. President Trump issued an executive order on March 28, 2019 implementing the new increase, and OPM also published their updated pay tables on that same date. You can see yesterday’s post for links to the President’s EO and OPM’s updated pay tables here: https://fedhrproject.com/2019/03/28/breaking-eo-issued-new-pay-tables-published-for-2019-pay-increase/.
The next topic of interest is for LER practitioners. The White House has announced President Trump’s plans to nominate several individuals to the FSIP and General Counsel position at the FLRA.
Jonathan Riches and F. Vincent Vernuccio were nominated to five-year terms at the FSIP. You can see the nomination announcement at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/president-donald-j-trump-announces-intent-appoint-individuals-key-administration-posts-5/.
Catherine Bird’s nomination as General Counsel at the FLRA was also announced this week. You can find her nomination announcement here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/president-donald-j-trump-announces-intent-nominate-appoint-personnel-key-administration-posts-23/. Ms. Bird is currently the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Administration at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Just a friendly reminder: amicus briefs in the case of: U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Michael E. DeBakey Medical Center, Houston, Texas, and American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), Local 1633, Case No. 0-AR-5354, are due by Monday, April 1, 2019. Check out my post on the case for more information: https://fedhrproject.com/2019/03/04/flra-may-be-looking-to-reconsider-factors-for-awarding-attorneys-fees/.
Finishing up the news roundup was the joint budget justification document issued by OPM and GSA, outlining the legislative proposals OPM expects to deliver in 2020. The legislative proposals affecting the overall Federal HR community fall into three categories:
- Civil Service Modernization Proposals;
- Healthcare and Insurance Proposals, and;
- Retirement Proposals.
While I do outline some of the proposals which are of interest to staffing and classification specialists, I don’t provide any insights on those proposals. However, I would love to get some feedback from the staffing/classification community. Please leave us a comment on this post with your thoughts. Also mentioned are the retirement proposals, but I refer you to Jeff Neal, author of the ChiefHRO.com blog, and his post on the proposed changes to retirement benefits. Jeff does a deep dive on the proposals and their viability in Congress. You can check out Jeff’s article at: https://chiefhro.com/2019/03/21/is-it-time-to-change-federal-retirement-benefits/.
You can find a copy of the budget justification document at: https://fedhrproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/gsaopmbudget.pdf . The proposals relevant to the Federal HR community can be found on pages 19-27 of the document.
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