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Brought to you by NCMA Attend the 23rd Annual NCMA Government Contract Management Conference RIDING THE WAVE: The Future of Government Contracting in a Fluid Environment Sheraton Premiere, Vienna, VA Conference - December 6-7, 2004 Post Conference Seminar: Contract Negotiations - December 8, 2004 Learn to ride the wave of change as industry and government leaders present suggestions and solutions to acquisition, legislation, and industry trends. Please visit NCMA for more information. |
1. Personnel flexibility bill heads to President Bush
By David McGlinchey
The Federal Workforce Flexibility Act is on its way to the White House for President Bush's signature, nearly two years after it was introduced by Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio.
"Management has always been a priority for me, and my own experience has taught me that of all the things in which government can invest, resources dedicated to human capital bring some of the greatest returns for taxpayers and the services they need and want," Voinovich said of the bill (S. 129). "This legislation will help provide new tools so government can attract and retain the best and the brightest minds for public service."
The Senate approved the legislation last week. The House had already passed its version last week. The White House press office was not able to say if, or when, Bush will sign the legislation.
Full story: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1004/101304d1.htm
2. Some federal reservists may reclaim lost time off
By David McGlinchey
The Office of Personnel Management told federal agencies Wednesday to restore annual leave to employees who were unfairly penalized when they left to participate in reserve military training.
The OPM directive comes as a result of a 2003 decision by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which found that federal employees on military leave were being unjustly forced to take time off. In the case, Butterbaugh v. Justice Department, the court found that because of the overly aggressive assessment of time off, employees who were training with the reserves exceeded their allotted 15 days of military leave and were compelled to take personal vacation time to fulfill their military commitment.
"Agencies should have allowed 15 workdays of military leave for reserve training (instead of 15 calendar days, as the language in this section was previously interpreted and applied prior to the court's ruling)," the OPM memo said. "The plaintiffs in Butterbaugh maintained that, because they were charged military leave for nonwork days within their period of military duty, they exceeded their allowance of 15 days of military leave each fiscal year and were forced to take leave without pay or annual leave to complete their annual reserve training."
Full story: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1004/101504d1.htm
3. Judge finds FAA managers participated in sex discrimination plot
By Chris Strohm
An administrative judge has ruled that at least three Federal Aviation Administration managers participated in a sexual discrimination plot that included manipulating personnel records and lying under oath in order to artificially meet diversity goals.
The FAA unlawfully appointed a woman to replace James Vanderpool as division manager for the agency's Northwest Mountain Region office in Renton, Wash., said Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Judge Zulema Hinojos-Fall, in a decision obtained by Government Executive. Vanderpool filed a complaint after being replaced by Susan Underwood, who was appointed without competition and given a higher salary, the judge found.
"One may infer from the evidence that the agency engaged in impermissible machinations to deprive [Vanderpool] of his division management position in order to elevate Ms. Underwood in title, pay and position in order to satisfy its diversity goal, an action which is clearly contrary to [the law] and which [Vanderpool] has established to have been discriminatorily based on [gender]," Hinojos-Fall wrote. The action violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the judge said.
Full story: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1004/101404c1.htm
4. Agencies urged to step up telework efforts
By Daniel Pulliam
A key House lawmaker is considering introducing legislation that would cut the budgets of all agencies and departments that fail to allow qualified employees to telework.
The proposal would expand on a provision included in the House version of the fiscal 2005 Commerce, Justice and State appropriations bill that would withhold as much as $5 million from a handful of agencies if they cannot show that qualified employees are allowed to telework at least once a week. The provision was sponsored by Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., a longtime telework advocate.
The House passed the spending bill in July and while the Senate version of the bill does not have the same provision, both Wolf and House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., expect the measure to be signed into law.
Full story: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1004/101404p1.htm
5. Safety officials encourage federal workers to buckle up
By David McGlinchey
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration wants all federal employees to buckle up when they are traveling on government time, and on Wednesday officials sent a Labor departmentwide memo to drive home the point.
Assistant Labor Secretary John Henshaw said more than 30 percent of all occupational injuries are related to motor vehicles. Seat belts, he added, greatly reduce fatalities in accidents.
The effort stems from Executive Order 13043, which was issued in 1997 to promote seat belt use among federal employees. Wednesday's memo is part of a joint effort by OSHA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to reinforce the executive order. The campaign began last month at the National Safety Congress in New Orleans.
Full story: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1004/101404d1.htm
Brought to you by NCMA
Attend the 23rd Annual NCMA Government Contract Management Conference RIDING THE WAVE: The Future of Government Contracting in a Fluid Environment
Sheraton Premiere, Vienna, VA
Conference - December 6-7, 2004
Post Conference Seminar: Contract Negotiations - December 8, 2004 Learn to ride the wave of change as industry and government leaders present suggestions and solutions to acquisition, legislation, and industry trends. Please visit NCMA for more information.
6. Treasury suspends G Fund investments in debt crisis
From CongressDaily
Treasury Secretary John Snow Thursday indicated the government has reached the statutory federal debt ceiling, notifying Congress that he must begin to tap a federal retirement fund to avoid breaching the limit.
In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., Snow wrote that, starting Thursday, he would be unable to fully invest in the Government Securities Investment Fund, the so-called G Fund.
"The statute governing G Fund investments explicitly authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to suspend investment of the G Fund to avoid breaching the statutory debt limit," Snow wrote.
Full story: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1004/101404cdpm1.htm
7. Agency hiring methods called ineffective
By Shawn Zeller
Federal agencies do a poor job of assessing job candidates, leading to bad hiring decisions and greater costs to taxpayers, according to a new report.
A widely used assessment method, which assigns points to job candidates based on their level of education and years of work experience, "is one of the least effective predictors of job performance," stated the report, issued by the Partnership for Public Service, a Washington nonprofit group working to revitalize the civil service.
The method ignores the quality of applicants' education and experience. Furthermore, it evaluates candidates based on information they provide themselves, allowing job seekers to game the system, the report concluded.
Full story: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1004/101204sz1.htm
8. Inspector general says TSA doled out unequal awards to employees
By Chris Strohm
The Transportation Security Administration held an "unnecessarily expensive" awards program in 2003 and has "a substantial inequity" within its performance recognition program between managers and employees, the Homeland Security Department's inspector general said in a report released Wednesday.
TSA spent about $460,000 to host its first annual awards program in Washington last November, Inspector General Clark Kent Irvin said in the report. The agency distributed about $1.5 million in individual cash awards to 88 executives during 2003, making its average award more than any other agency's average award to executives, according to the report.
Overall, the report concluded that TSA's awards ceremony and executive performance awards complied with federal laws and regulations. The report said, however, that the cost for the awards program "proved to be excessive." Additionally, TSA used identical, boilerplate language to justify awards for its executives, but did not give equal awards to nonexecutive employees.
Full story: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1004/101304c1.htm
9. This week's column: Pay and Benefits Watch
The Waiting Game
Labor officials wonder whether they'll see the Homeland Security Department's personnel reform proposals before the November election.
Full column: http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1004/101404pb.htm
10. Quote of the Week:
"We understand that the only two ways to get agencies to pay attention to Congress are to threaten their budgets or to drag them up to Capitol Hill to testify before members."
� Michael Layman, a House Government Reform Committee staffer, saying agencies need to promote telework.
Excellence in Government West 2004: Register by October 29th for Early Bird Savings of $100 off the Normal Registration Rate!
Government Executive magazine and the Council for Excellence in Government continue the westward expansion of the popular Washington, D.C. event - Excellence in Government - with the second year of Excellence in Government West: Fast Forward Government, to be held December 8 - 10, 2004, at the Loews Coronado Bay Resort in San Diego, California. For more information or to register please visit: http://www.excelgovwest.com.
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