FedSmith.com: How Federal Employees See Themselves (And Are Seen): One Man's Opinion

	October 18, 2010
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Workers' Comp Conference for Federal Professionals Nov. 8-10, Las Vegas: Basic Claims Development Strategies, Tactics to Reduce Stress Injuries and more. Last weeks to register. (Advertisement) Daily Headlines for October 18, 2010 How Federal Employees See Themselves (And Are Seen): One Man's Opinion How do federal employees see themselves and why to they see themselves in this way? A retired human resources specialist discusses federal pay, job attitudes and why working for the government can be a very rewarding career. Posted: 10/17 RELATED HEADLINES: Office of Special Counsel Prosecutes HR Specialists for Allegedly Helping Agency Management Pre-select a Candidate Office of Special Counsel Prosecutes HR Specialists for Allegedly Helping Agency Management Pre-select a Candidate: The Sequel Pets, Health Care and Political Sensitivity A recent article on pet insurance for federal employees stirred up a hornet's nest. Here is what happened. Posted: 10/18 RELATED HEADLINES: 2011 Federal Insurance Calculator How Much Will The Health Plan Cost Federal Workers in 2011? Is Your Health Plan Leaving the Federal Program? Check to Be Sure or Suffer the Consequences Pet Insurance, Domestic Federal Employee Partners, and Health Insurance Statement by OPM on Pet Insurance and the FEHB FLRA to Hold Town Hall Meeting in DC This Week: Claims Interest in Practitioner Views The Author encourages federal labor relations practitioners and attorneys to attend FLRA’s upcoming meeting on this Thursday, October 21. FLRA and FSIP members as well as the General Counsel will be in attendance. They say they want to serve you better. Go and offer some advice on exactly how they can do that. Posted: 10/18 Massive Rip-Off of Federal Retirees How long will you have to wait for your first full retirement check? Be prepared to wait and to fund your own retirement for awhile. Federal retirees have been waiting six months to a year to get full, accurate retirement checks. While you wait, you get about 60% of what your check is estimated to be OPM finishes processing your paperwork. Posted: 10/18 Agencies May Not Fill Vacancies to Cut Back Government Spending President Obama said late last week that government agencies might leave some vacancies unfilled as his administration looks for ways to save money. He also indicated that furloughs for federal employees are possible. Posted: 10/17 RELATED HEADLINES: Freezing Federal Employees Salaries: Time to Be "Part of the Deal"? Mandatory Unpaid Leave for Federal Employees in 2011? Government Furlough or Hiring 125,000 New Federal Employees? President Obama said last week he cannot rule out furloughs for federal employees. At the same time, the federal government is estimated to be making approximately 125,000 new hires for full-time, nonseasonal jobs during this fiscal year. Posted: 10/18 Negative View of Federal Workers More than half of Americans say they think that federal workers are overpaid for the work they do, and more than a third think they are less qualified than those working in the private sector according to a recent poll. Posted: 10/18 RELATED HEADLINES: Highest Annual HR Salary in Fed. Govt.: $219,446 Highest Average Agency Salary in Government: $147,547 The Federal Salary War Health Care and the "Alice in Wonderland" Defense A federal judge says he will allow some of the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the health care law to proceed --" and criticized Democrats for making an "Alice in Wonderland" argument to defend the law. Posted: 10/15 Federal Employees: What is the Voluntary Contribution Program and How Can You Get the Most Out of It? The Voluntary Contributions Program (VCP) is one of the most underutilized benefits within the benefits system for CSRS and CSRS Offset employees. It allows a federal employee to make after-tax optional payments to a Voluntary Contributions Account in addition to the retirement contributions you already make. Posted: 10/15 RELATED HEADLINES: CSRS Employees: How to Help Make Up for Lost Time Before Retirement New (Significant) Financial Benefits From an Old Program (For CSRS and CSRS-Offset Employees Only) OPM Brochure on the Voluntary Contributions Program Should You Get a Survivor Annuity or Purchase Life Insurance? The Windfall Elimination Provision and CSRS Offset Retirees Merit Systems Protection Board Balances National Security Exceptions Against Employee Rights Breaking with prior tradition the Board held Oral Arguments for the first time in nearly three decades to determine the potentially far reaching implications of an appeal from two Defense Department employees, both of whom were disciplined for national security reasons. Posted: 10/15 RELATED HEADLINES: Missing a Required Security Clearance Is Valid Basis for Removal National Security and the Commissary Cashier No Security Clearance May Equal No Job Pet Insurance, Domestic Federal Employee Partners, and Health Insurance What do topics as varied as pet insurance, domestic federal employee partners, and federal employee health insurance have in common? For those who may not quickly see a relationship between these widely varying topics, here is your answer. Posted: 10/15 RELATED HEADLINES: 2011 Federal Insurance Premiums Calculator How Much Will The Health Plan Cost Federal Workers in 2011? Why Are Your Federal Health Insurance Premiums Going Up? Previous Articles on FedSmith.com Huntsville, Alabama's First Museum Celebrates 55 Years Nearly 50,000 federal employees and contractors call Huntsville, Alabama home. Although visitors most often associate the city with NASA and the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, and Space Camp, employees here make up only a fraction of the total federal workforce in Huntsville. Popular Topics: Mandatory Leave, Death Benefits and Retirement Which topics interest federal employees the most? Here is a listing of the top articles on our site from the past seven days. Beware of Your Corporate-Speak Fast-tracking. Determining metrics. Capturing action items. Maybe it would be better if we all just spoke and wrote to each other like we were human beings. About this Email The FedSmith.com FREE daily email newsletter is sent each business day with a snapshot of the latest news headlines. FedSmith.com is growing every day as an influential Internet news Web site for the Federal community. Please forward this newsletter to your colleagues so they can also receive our latest news headlines each business day. 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