Federal Manager's Daily Report: Friday, October 8, 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. GAO: "Institutional Approach" Needed to Manage DHS IT 2. Management Course: Organizational Change http://www.leadership.opm.gov/content.cfm?CAT=BHPO21C 3. Settlement Allows OCC Employees to Seek Overtime Back Pay 4. New Publication Announcement http://fedweek.sparklist.com/t/294958157/821889/1/0/ *********************************************************** 1. GAO: "Institutional Approach" Needed to Manage DHS IT The Department of Homeland Security has made mixed progress standardizing and integrating inherited IT systems and management approaches, while maintaining and improving IT support in the near term, the Government Accountability Office has said. It said that DHS is "instituting seven information and technology management disciplines" that are integral to an effective management structure, but that institutionalizing them remains a work in progress. That's to be expected given the diversity of the agencies that were cobbled together to form DHS, yet without fully institutionalizing "these governance elements," DHS is at risk of less than optimal support of its "corporate mission needs," and failing to meet "cost, schedule, capability, and benefit commitments," according to GAO-04-702. The report said DHS's draft IT strategic plan lacks "explicit goals, performance measures, milestones, and knowledge of whether it has properly positioned IT staff with the right skills to accomplish these things." 2. Management Course: Organizational Change The Office of Personnel Management has scheduled a seminar for Nov. 2-5 for senior executive service members and GS-15s or equivalent in other pay systems. Given at the Federal Executive Institute in Charlottesville, Va., "Building High-Performance Organizations for the 21st C entury, Understanding the Theory and Practice of Organizational Change," is designed to teach participants to leverage their experience and knowledge of their organizations through organizational theory and structure to build higher-performing organizations. Participants take the role of diagnostic consultants and examine their agencies in a small group, interactive context, and with individual feedback. The $2,595 fee includes meals, lodging, tuition and course materials. Learn more and register at: http://www.leadership.opm.gov/content.cfm?CAT=BHPO21C 3. Settlement Allows OCC Employees to Seek Overtime Back Pay The National Treasury Employees Union has announced that it won settlement on a national grievance it filed against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in July 2003. The settlement makes certain OCC employees eligibility for back pay and damages improperly-paid overtime covering more than two years, the union said. NTEU filed the grievance shortly after OCC reclassified some of its bargaining unit positions from exempt, to not exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act -- to ensure that employees got the same range of FLSA "remedies," according to the union. The "full remedy" it sought under the FLSA included "liquidated damages, for bargaining unit employees who were underpaid for overtime work prior to the reclassification, or who had worked uncompensated overtime," said NTEU, which represents about 2,200 OCC employees. 4. New Publication Announcement Passman & Kaplan announces the October 2004 publication of the SECOND EDITION of the Federal Employees Legal Survival Guide. This comprehensive book, first published by Passman & Kaplan in 1999, has been called the definitive how-to guide for enforcing the rights of federal employees. The second edition of the Guide includes 100 PAGES OF ADDITIONAL NEW MATERIAL (now 616 total pages) and useful advice. New features include information on internet legal research, preparing for and conducting a hearing, sample discovery requests, and up-to-date contact information for federal personnel agencies. The Guide also includes a listing of frequently used civil service acronyms and practical appendices of sample forms, charts illustrating appeal rights, and commonly-needed deadlines. As with the first edition of the Guide, Passman & Kaplan has attempted to move away from the "legalese" which so often complicates an already-bewildering array of regulations and policies. Although the Federal Employees Legal Survival Guide, Second Edition is clearly an invaluable resource for practioners, Passman & Kaplan has maintained its commitment to target the book to the average federal employee. *********************************************************** To place your order for The Federal Employees Legal Survival Guide just go to http://fedweek.sparklist.com/t/294958157/821889/1/0/ and place your secure order online. The cost of this publication is only $49.95 Plus $6 s&h--Remember, this is a 616 page reference that is chalked full of invaluable information that every federal manager must have! Or you can mail your order with payment of $55.95 to FEDweek, PO Box 5519, Glen Allen, VA 23058. This is a one of a kind book you can't afford to be without! ************************************************************ FEDweek 11541 Nuckols Rd. 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