FEDweek Issue: Wednesday, August 18, 2004 FEDweek is the largest information resource in the federal government with now over one million weekly readers. To Subscribe, Go to http://www.fedweek.com/subscribepopup.htm *********************************************************** Valuable Information for the Federal Family
Federal Job Search http://www.fedweek.com/Jobs/default.asp Job Bulletin Board http://www.fedweek.com/Jobs/default.asp Brand New Federal Manager's Daily Report--FREE Daily Electronic Briefing http://www.fedweek.com/subscribepopup.htm ********************************************************** In This Week's Issue 1. FEGLI Open Season Coming Up 2. Special Election Rules Apply 3. Some Restrictions on Participation, Too 4. Further Topics for MSPB Research http://www.fedweek.com/HotFreeNews/default.asp 5. Experts' View: Those Tasty COLAs http://www.fedweek.com/experts/default.asp. 6. Personnel Rules Getting Fragmented, GAO Says 7. Time for Broader Reform, Says GAO 8. Administration Also Backs Wider Reforms 9. Little Chance for Wide Reform in Short Run 10. Subcommittee Chair Leaves 11. New Per Diem Rates Coming 12. Federal Legal Corner: FERS Early Retirement Eligibility http://www.passmanandkaplan.com 13. Note From FEDweek Publisher, Don Mace http://www.fedweek.com/Publications/default.asp *********************************************************** 1. FEGLI Open Season Coming Up During September there will be an open season in the Federal Employees Group Life Insurance program for those who don't currently have FEGLI coverage to enroll and for those who have coverage to increase their coverage. Premium rates and available benefits are not changing, but the open season does offer the rare opportunity to first enroll for those who previously declined coverage, and it waives the usual restrictions against increasing coverage for those who already have it. 2. Special Election Rules Apply Elections must be made on a special form created for this open season, the FE-2004. Employees cannot use the standard FEGLI election form, the SF-2817, to make open season elections. Employees who don't want to change their current FEGLI status do not have to take any action; the prior elections will simply remain in effect. Elections, however, won't take effect until the first day of the first pay period that begins on or after September 1, 2005. The delay is designed to prevent employees with short life expectancies to increase coverage soon before a claim is likely. 3. Some Restrictions on Participation, Too The FEGLI open season will apply only to active employees, not to retirees--except for rehired annuitants who could participate in their status as active employees. Also, while employees in non-pay status can participate, any coverage they elect will not become effective until they are in pay status after the effective date. A full-time employee on a biweekly pay period must be in pay and duty status for at least 32 hours during the pay period right before the one in which the coverage is to become effective. A full-time employee on a monthly pay period must be in pay and duty status for at least 64 hours during the pay period right before the one in which the coverage is to become effective. A part-time employee must be in pay and duty status for one-half of the regularly-scheduled tour of duty shown on his/her current SF 50. An intermittent employee or an employee without a regularly-scheduled tour of duty who is eligible for FEGLI coverage must be in pay and duty status for one-half of the hours customarily worked in a pay period. 4. Further Topics for MSPB Research A recent Merit Systems Protection Board project to identify topics for further research in the federal employment realm identified many areas meriting study. For comments MSPB gathered from experts regarding contracting out, workforce planning, labor relations, employee protections and other issues (see last week's FEDweek for topics related to job classification and performance management) along with MSPB's conclusions, go to http://www.fedweek.com/HotFreeNews/default.asp in the hot free info section of our website. 5. Experts' View: Those Tasty COLAs One of the best benefits provided to federal retirees is the cost-of living adjustment (COLA), writes benefits expert Reg Jones. "The date on which you retire determines how much -- if anything -- you will receive next year," he writes. You'll find his column at http://www.fedweek.com/experts/default.asp. 6. Personnel Rules Getting Fragmented, GAO Says Personnel flexibilities enacted for the Defense and Homeland Security departments not only will help those agencies position themselves for the future but also "have significant precedent-setting implications for the rest of government," including inconsistency in policies among agencies that could leave some at a disadvantage, the Government Accountability Office testified at a recent Senate hearing on human capital. GAO-04-976T."We are fast approaching the point where �standard governmentwide' human capital policies are neither standard nor governmentwide," a GAO official testified. "We believe that human capital reform should avoid further fragmentation within the civil service, ensure reasonable consistency within the overall work force, and help maintain a reasonably level playing field among federal agencies in competing for talent." 7. Time for Broader Reform, Says GAO GAO said that it would be "both prudent and preferable to employ a governmentwide approach" to address the needs for alternative personnel policies "that have broad-based application and serious implications for the civil service system. Employing this approach is not intended to delay any individual agency's efforts, but rather to accelerate needed human capital reform throughout the federal government in a manner that ensures reasonable consistency within the overall civilian workforce. In short, the important changes under way within at individual agencies naturally are suggesting that broader, more systematic civil service reform should be seriously considered." GAO and other outside experts have been making similar arguments in recent years as agencies--first the IRS and more recently the Defense and Homeland Security departments--were given authority to break off from many civil service rules. 8. Administration Also Backs Wider Reforms At the same hearing, Office of Management and Budget deputy director for management Clay Johnson III also expressed concerns about "piecemeal" reforms with "confusing differences in the personnel management practices at agencies across government." He said, "I would recommend that we consider making available to the government's remaining agencies the flexibilities necessary to improve hiring processes, compensation systems and practices, and performance management so that they can recruit, retain and develop the workforce they need to accomplish their missions. If not provided in a uniform way, it is difficult to guard against imbalances that are created when competition exists between agencies for limited talent. One thing I know for sure: it's not a question of whether these flexibilities will be granted more broadly to agencies, but when." 9. Little Chance for Wide Reform in Short Run However, Congress is not expected to enact broad civil service reform this year. Some civil service leaders on Capitol Hill have said they prefer to see how the DHS and DoD systems develop--at least on paper, and preferably after several years of actual experience in operation--before supporting broader reforms in areas such as pay banding, pay for performance, and job protections. Congress this year did enact legislation giving new authorities to GAO and to NASA, continuing the piecemeal approach of recent years in which some agencies have been able to make a case that they need greater flexibilities. The major civil service reform bill pending before Congress (S-129) does not touch basic employment rights and policies but mainly corrects some anomalies in retirement policy, emphasizes employee training and gives agencies greater leeway in paying recruitment and retention bonuses. 10. Subcommittee Chair Leaves Rep. Jo Ann Davis, R-Va., has given up the chairmanship of the House civil service subcommittee in order to take a post on an intelligence panel. Davis, who took over the panel last year, drew favorable reviews from federal employee organizations for working to put greater protections for employees into the revised personnel system for the Defense Department and for pushing issues such as reforms in hiring, law enforcement officer compensation, and for advocating expanded vision and dental care for federal employees. No replacement has been named. The subcommittee is expected to be relatively inactive for the remainder of the current Congress in any case, since all the civil service-related bills that are expected to move this year already have advanced beyond the subcommittee stage. 11. New Per Diem Rates Coming The General Services Administration likely will soon announce new per diem rates for federal travelers to be effective October 1, an annual announcement closely watched not only travelers themselves--who often complain that the end up paying costs out of their own pockets even when reimbursement rates go up--but by members of Congress whose districts are heavy travel destinations. GSA traditionally had made the announcement around the start of a calendar year but several years ago switched to making new rates effective at the start of a new fiscal year. 12. Federal Legal Corner: FERS Early Retirement Eligibility The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) has recently ruled that a former employee under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) may be eligible for early retirement if he had completed at least 10 years of creditable federal service, including military service, and had reached the minimum retirement age (MRA) age of 55 for employees born before January 1, 1948. Connolly v. OPM, CH--0841-02-0693-I-1 (8/3/04). Because the former employee had more than five years of creditable civilian service, he would also be eligible for a deferred annuity at age 62. However, the Board reversed its administrative judge (AJ) and remanded the case because the AJ failed to consider that the former employee had three years of military service but did not make a deposit. While the AJ did not consider the appellant's claim that he was willing to make the deposit, in requiring the employee to have 10 years of creditable civilian service, the AJ misread the applicable statute, 5 USC 8413(b)(1), which only requires "10 years of service," not 10 years of civilian service. In fact, the OPM FERS Handbook states that the "employee must have at least 10 years of creditable (civilian and military) service," including five years of civilian service. "Thus, the 10-year requirement can be met by using post-1956 military service if the required deposit is made." Under the OPM regulations, a deposit for military service must be made prior to the separation from service. Regardless, there is an exception where an employee is not informed of the requirement and an administrative error has been made. In Gilliam v. OPM, 91 MSPR 352 (2002), the MSPB held that if a separated employee failed to make or complete a deposit for military service prior to his separation due to an administrative error, he may complete the deposit in a lump sum within a time period set by OPM. 5 CFR 842.307(a)(3). "An employing agency's failure to inform an employee of the need to make a deposit for his military service, when the agency is obligated to provide this information, constitutes an �administrative error' within the meaning of 5 C.F.R. � 842.307(a)(3). See Nunez v. Office of Personnel Management, 69 M.S.P.R. 326, 329-34 (1996)." Because the record was not developed as to whether the Department of the Army notified the appellant of his right to make a deposit for his military service before he separated, the case was remanded to determine if his claim is supported by the record. The Board ordered the AJ to decide if the agency "made an administrative error and whether that error caused the appellant's failure to make the deposit before his separation." This case again emphasizes the importance of making deposits for post-1956 military service before an employee separates from civilian service. ** This information is provided by the attorneys at Passman & Kaplan, P.C., a law firm dedicated to the representation of federal employees worldwide. For more information on Passman & Kaplan, P.C., go to http://www.passmanandkaplan.com. ** 13. Note From FEDweek Publisher, Don Mace *********************************************************** The Complete Guide to Writing a Federal Resume Just Published-- Available for Immediate Shipment Order Yours at http://www.fedweek.com/Publications/default.asp >From the Publishers of FEDweek, the federal government's largest information resource... 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