FEHBP open season starts Nov. 9
July 29th, 2009 | Pay & Benefits | Posted by Steve Losey
The Office of Personnel Management just released guidance on the upcoming open season for choosing next year’s plans under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. Federal employees will be able to select health, dental and vision insurance plans and enroll in a Flexible Spending Account between Nov. 9 and Dec. 14.
Anyone already enrolled in a health, dental or vision plan will stay enrolled in their current plan unless they choose to change or cancel it. But Flexible Spending Accounts don’t carry over from one year to another — enrollees must set up an account again if they want to keep directing pretax money to an account used to pay for medical and other expenses.
Last year’s open season was supposed to run from Nov. 10 to Dec. 8, but OPM extended it through January after Blue Cross Blue Shield tried to impose a controversial $7,500 deductible for out-of-network surgeries. OPM said that was a unique occurence, and doesn’t plan to extend this year’s open season.
Same-sex benefits update
June 17th, 2009 | Pay & Benefits | Posted by Steve Losey
The White House has released a fact sheet outlining the benefits it will grant to same-sex domestic partners of gay and lesbian federal employees today:
- Domestic partners of federal employees can be added to the long-term care insurance program.
- Federal employees will be allowed to use sick leave to care for domestic partners and their non-biological, non-adopted children.
The memo will also outline benefits for partners of State Department Foreign Service officers, who for the first time will:
- Be able to use medical facilities at posts abroad.
- Be medically evacuated from posts abroad.
- Be counted when State measures a Foreign Service officer’s family size to determine housing allocations.
Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry is speaking with reporters at 3 p.m. on a conference call. Check back here this afternoon to find out what additional benefits, if any, will be included in the memorandum President Barack Obama plans to sign at 5:45 p.m.
Tags: John Berry, Office of Personnel Management, same-sex benefits
Obama's pay-for-performance plan
June 1st, 2009 | Pay & Benefits | Posted by Steve Losey
New Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry’s announcement last week that the Obama administration wants all federal employees to be paid based on how well they perform doesn’t exactly have federal unions doing cartwheels. The American Federation of Government Employees said pay for performance can’t work in the government, and said that the General Schedule is enough to reward hard workers. The National Treasury Employees Union, on the other hand, said it would wait and see what Berry comes up with.
And the National Federation of Federal Employees just weighed in on the issue this morning. Though President Rick Brown said he felt better about the issue after talking with Berry last Friday and praised his “good-faith” approach to reform, he also had a warning: Don’t simply warm over leftover proposals from the Bush administration.
Director Berry assured me that this is not an attempt to repackage what we feel are ill-conceived Bush-era pay schemes. . . . [W]e do not expect to see proposals that even closely resemble the so-called pay for performance plans put forward under the previous administration. Everyone agrees that more needs to be done to reward high performers, and we are eager to explore these ideas with the administration.
What do you think? Can pay for performance work in a federal office? Why, or why not? What have your experiences been with such systems?
Tags: John Berry, Office of Personnel Management, pay for performance
Security clearance investigators: Federal Times wants to hear from you
May 1st, 2009 | Office of Personnel Management | Posted by Steve Losey
Federal Times wants to hear from security clearance investigators about your job. Do you have enough resources to conduct your investigations? Are the workloads too heavy? Do you feel pressure to sacrifice quality to clear cases faster? What needs to be done to improve the process?
E-mail me at slosey@federaltimes.com if you’d like to talk. If you’d prefer that your name not be published, that would be fine.
OPM to unveil new telework policy
April 28th, 2009 | HR Management | Posted by Steve Losey
The Office of Personnel Management is going to announce the Obama administration’s new telework policy tomorrow morning. OPM Director John Berry, along with Reps. John Sarbanes, D-Md., and Gerald Connolly, D-Va., will outline his plan to improve the government’s efficiency by expanding the use of telework.
In a statement announcing the Capitol Hill press conference, Berry said:
Telework is good for the environment [and] good for the continuity of government operations. It also shows the commitment of President Barack Obama to provide a work/life program that is improving the quality of life for federal employees.
Check back with Federal Times tomorrow to find out what OPM has planned.
OPM: Watch out for swine flu
April 27th, 2009 | Office of Personnel Management | Posted by Steve Losey
The Office of Personnel Management is warning agencies to be prepared in case swine flu hits their area. An April 26 memo from OPM Director John Berry tells managers that employees might become sick or have to care for family members who contract swine flu, and reminds them of the government’s various sick leave and family care policies.
And for employees at agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration or Customs and Border Protection – who could come into contact with travelers who may have contracted swine flu — the memo also includes advice on how to manage such encounters. OPM recommends that when a traveler is coughing, showing signs of a fever, or other symptoms that could indicate swine flu:
- Separate that individual to a private room or other area that is at least six feet away from employees and the public.
- After separating the traveler from others, notify the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quarantine station.
- Give the ill traveler a surgical mask to keep him from infecting others.
- If possible, isolate the ill traveler in a room separate from the airspace of others.
Senate committee to vote on Berry Wednesday
March 31st, 2009 | Office of Personnel Management | Posted by Steve Losey
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is scheduled to vote on John Berry to be the next Office of Personnel Management director tomorrow afternoon. Berry, who received few tough questions in his confirmation hearing last week, is expected to be confirmed.
Tags: John Berry, Office of Personnel Management, Transition
NSPS: What do you think?
March 20th, 2009 | Defense | Posted by Steve Losey
Federal Times wants to hear from employees and managers under the National Security Personnel System about how the program should be improved. Do you think it’s working or not? Where are its weaknesses? What can be done to fix those problems, now that the Pentagon and Office of Personnel Management are putting NSPS under the microscope? Or do you think the system is too flawed to repair, and that it’s time to return to the General Schedule?
E-mail me at slosey@federaltimes.com if you’d like to talk. If you’d prefer that your name not be published, that would be fine.
White House names John Berry to head OPM
March 3rd, 2009 | Transition | Posted by Gregg Carlstrom
John Berry, director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoological Park, has officially been nominated to head the Office of Personnel Management. There’s been speculation about his appointment since January, but until now it’s been just that – speculation.
Update, 4:33 p.m.: Positive reactions so far from federal employee unions. Here’s one from the American Federation of Government Employees.
Hager out, Whipple in as acting OPM director
January 23rd, 2009 | Office of Personnel Management | Posted by Steve Losey
President Obama just named Kathie Ann Whipple to be acting director of the Office of Personnel Management. Whipple, who had been deputy general counsel, will immediately replace Michael Hager, who served as acting OPM director since last August.
Whipple thanked Obama for the appointment in a statement issued this morning:
I am humbled to have been designated by President Obama to serve as the acting director of OPM, an agency it has been my pleasure to serve for the past eight years. I look forward to leading OPM until the president appoints and the United States Senate confirms the next director.
Tags: Barack Obama, Office of Personnel Management, Transition, White House