This week, OPM provided NTEU with information on new FSA flexibilities permitted under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Notice 2021-15 and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. These flexibilities include allowing full carryover for a health care flexible spending account (HCFSA) and Limited Expense FSA (LEX FSA); extending the grace period for a dependent care flexible spending account (DCFSA); and permitting care for dependents through age 14 for 2020 and 2021 under a DCFSA.
In addition, OPM is working with the FSAFEDS contractor, Health Equity,... Read more ...
More Union News
04/16/2021
"I recently represented an employee that was hired under the disability hiring authority at the Federal Aviation Administration. This employee had performed satisfactorily for a number of years, but once her first level supervisor changed, her working conditions also dramatically changed. Other employees were encouraged to report on the mistakes of this employee, and she was singled out for minor errors, which arguably can be attributed to her disability. Ultimately, management reprimanded the employee for a raft of pretextual missteps. Enter the union. As a federal employee, I always... Read more ...
03/30/2021
History of the Student Loan Repayment Program at the SEC
The road to the Student Loan Repayment Program (SLRP) began back in the 1990s, when NTEU’s national Legislative Department won legislation in Congress affording the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) a wide range of recruitment and retention flexibilities that they could offer federal agencies, including student loan forgiveness. Subsequently, NTEU's Legislative Department worked closely with OPM to ensure the issuance of regulations giving this discretionary authority to federal agencies.
The SEC, however, did not opt to create a... Read more ...
The road to the Student Loan Repayment Program (SLRP) began back in the 1990s, when NTEU’s national Legislative Department won legislation in Congress affording the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) a wide range of recruitment and retention flexibilities that they could offer federal agencies, including student loan forgiveness. Subsequently, NTEU's Legislative Department worked closely with OPM to ensure the issuance of regulations giving this discretionary authority to federal agencies.
The SEC, however, did not opt to create a... Read more ...
03/18/2021
The union today submitted to SEC management proposals regarding diversity at the agency. The union has vetted and discussed these proposals with dozens of Chapter 293 union leaders across the SEC. We believe that the proposals are reasonable steps that the agency could, and should, immediately take. In fact, the union previously submitted many of these same proposals to SEC management last summer, in response to their multiple “town hall meetings” discussing diversity as part of the national dialogue related to these issues. At that time, management refused to bargain over the union’s... Read more ...
02/17/2021
Last week, several committees of the House of Representatives held markups to consider legislation that will be part of the FY 2021 Budget Reconciliation COVID relief package. These bills included a number of provisions that would impact federal employees.
On Friday, the House Committee on Oversight approved legislation that would provide 600 hours (15 weeks) of emergency paid leave for federal employees who are required to quarantine, are ill with COVID-19, are caring for a child whose child care provider is unavailable due to COVID-19 precautions or whose school or place of care has been... Read more ...
On Friday, the House Committee on Oversight approved legislation that would provide 600 hours (15 weeks) of emergency paid leave for federal employees who are required to quarantine, are ill with COVID-19, are caring for a child whose child care provider is unavailable due to COVID-19 precautions or whose school or place of care has been... Read more ...
10/29/2020
Last week, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) establishing a new category of excepted service employees, known as Schedule F. This is a potentially far-reaching EO that could move tens of thousands of federal employees into the new Schedule F, which would strip them of their civil service protections, allow them to be hired and fired at will, and allow agencies to exclude employees classified as Schedule F from bargaining units. Schedule F would be broadly composed of “employees in confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating positions.”
In response to... Read more ...
In response to... Read more ...
Biden administration moves toward making the pandemic work-from-home experiment permanent for many federal workers
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