Free Republic

The Obama Administration handed out more than $400 million in awards to federal employees last year, up by more than $80 million from the prior year, according to new government data. The biggest winners were air traffic controllers and top managers in Washington, a review of fiscal year 2009 salary reports from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management showed. OPM’s data, obtained by the Asbury Park Press through a freedom of information request, account for 1.3 million employees, or about 65 percent of the federal civilian work force.

...in a memorandum dated June 2, 2010, President Obama directed agencies to extend a host of benefits to their employees’ same-sex domestic partners as permitted by law. He also directed me to issue guidance to ensure consistent and appropriate implementation of his memorandum. This memorandum constitutes OPM’s guidance.I. DEFINITION OF “DOMESTIC PARTNER” For purposes of ensuring consistent implementation of the President’s memorandum, a “domestic partner” is a person in a domestic partnership with an employee or annuitant of the same sex.[1] The term “domestic partnership” is defined as a committed relationship between two adults, of the same sex, in which...

Does anyone know how many people actually work for the federal government?

If you work for Uncle Sam, but you don’t pay him after he pays you, look out for Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R- Utah). “Fire Federal Employees Who Are Not Paying Their Federal Income Taxes.” That’s the headline on a news release Chaffetz issued Wednesday, announcing legislation that would terminate federal workers who have a “seriously delinquent tax debt.” Currently, only IRS staffers can be dismissed if they don’t pay their taxes. “Federal employees have an obvious obligation to pay their federal income taxes,” said Chaffetz. “Because they draw their compensation from the American taxpayers, federal employees owe it to the...

WASHINGTON—(ENEWSPF)—February 24, 2010. Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., Wednesday questioned the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security about the high ratio of contractors to civilian employees within the DHS workforce. According to DHS estimates, the first the Committee has received despite years of informal requests for these numbers, the Department has 188,000 civilian employees (not including uniformed members of the Coast Guard) and 200,000 contractors working for it – for a total workforce of almost 400,000. “To me, this is just a shocking and unacceptable number,” Lieberman said...

Some might say it’s a good thing, others might say the opposite, but there’s no denying that union membership is declining in the United States. Last year, 12.3 percent of wage and salary workers were union members, compared with 20.1 percent in 1983, the first year for which the federal government compiled comparable data. A greater share of public- than private-sector workers belong to unions. Last year local government workers — like teachers, police officers and firefighters — had the highest rate of public sector membership, at 43.3 percent. The figures show a gender differential. More men (13.3 percent) are...

Guess who is getting a pay raise? Who least deserves a pay raise? Obama is proposing that those who deserve it the least, federal employees should get a 1.4% pay increase while millions of Americans are out of work and struggling to pay taxes. Taxes that Obama is trying to increase. To further salt the wound for taxpayers, the Census Bureau reports that in 2009 Federal Employees earned on average 21% more than workers in the private sector, (ibid). The

Federal Government Operating Status in the Washington, DC, Area the following message applies only to Thursday, February 11, 2010 Notice: Due to very high volume traffic access to all other OPM.gov pages has been modified. Select the following link to proceed to opm.gov. Select the follwing link to access e-QIP at its temporary address. Federal agencies in the Washington, DC, area are CLOSED. This Means . . . Federal agencies in the Washington, DC, area are closed. Nonemergency employees (including employees on pre-approved leave) will be granted excused absence for the number of hours they were scheduled to work. This...

Federal Government Operating Status in the Washington, DC, Area the following message applies only to Wednesday, February 10, 2010 Federal agencies in the Washington, DC, area are CLOSED. This Means . . . Federal agencies in the Washington, DC, area are closed. Nonemergency employees (including employees on pre-approved leave) will be granted excused absence for the number of hours they were scheduled to work. This does not apply to employees on leave without pay, leave without pay for military duty, workers' compensation, suspension, or in another nonpay status. Telework employees may be expected to work from their telework sites, as...

A new report from the Bureaus of Labor Statistics that was released today, shows that almost 15 million Americans are currently out of work and unable to find jobs. Worse still, those with jobs have not seen their wages increase much in the last 10 years. However, government workers are enjoying a boom in hiring and generous salary increases thanks in large part to very cushy pensions and other benefits. The pay differential between public sector employees and the private sector shows a troubling trend. Government workers have benefited greatly, even during the severe recession, and their wages now outpace...

Federal Government Operating Status in the Washington, DC, Area the following message applies only to Tuesday, February 9, 2010 Federal agencies in the Washington, DC, area are CLOSED. This Means . . . Federal agencies in the Washington, DC, area are closed. Nonemergency employees (including employees on pre-approved leave) will be granted excused absence for the number of hours they were scheduled to work. This does not apply to employees on leave without pay, leave without pay for military duty, workers' compensation, suspension, or in another nonpay status. Telework employees may be expected to work from their telework sites, as...

Growing up in Michigan in the heyday of the United Auto Workers, I long assumed that labor unions were part of the natural order of things. That's no longer clear. Last month, the Labor Department reported that private-sector unions lost 834,000 members last year and now represent only 7.2 percent of private-sector employees. That's down from the all-time peak of 36 percent in 1953-54. But union membership is still growing in the public sector. Last year, 37.4 percent of public sector employees were union members. That percentage was down near zero in the 1950s. For the first time in history,...

January 20, 1981 Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies Subject: Hiring Freeze I am ordering today a strict freeze on the hiring of Federal civilian employees to be applied across the board in the executive branch. This action is necessary because the national budget is out of control. Estimates of Federal spending for fiscal years 1981 and 1982 have -- in a single year -- increased by $100 billion. Last July, during my campaign for the Presidency, I pledged that we would take this action as a first step towards controlling the growth and size of government...

Forbes recently reported that the government will be hiring 600,000 more employees during the next four years. If that's not reason enough, USA Today reported that the number of government employees earning six-figure salaries has increased too. So, get your resume ready! Here is our mix of some of the highest-paying (and coolest-sounding) jobs currently being offered in government. Even if you are perfectly content in your current line of work, just the job descriptions for these positions are worth checking out. Special Agent, FBI Annual Salary: $57,000 and $74,000 Supervisory IT Specialist, FBI Annual Salary: $123,000 and $155,000 Aerospace...

The Obama administration projects the number of employees on the government payroll will grow to 2.15 million this year, reportedly making it the largest federal workforce in modern history and fueling criticism over the size of government.

Excerpt: The budget answers critics, including Scott Brown, the newly elected Republican senator from Massachusetts, who say federal civilians earn much more than private-sector workers. There's a reason for that. Federal workers are better educated. "The Federal Government hires lawyers to tackle corruption, security professionals to monitor our borders, doctors to care for our injured veterans, and world-class scientists to combat deadly diseases such as cancer," the budget says. "Because of these vital needs, the Federal Government hires a relatively highly educated workforce, resulting in higher average pay." Consider these stats: Twenty percent of federal workers have a master's, professional...

Americans move to where your money is. Every day thousands of Americans vote with their feet on the best places to live and work, and these migration patterns can tell a lot about state economies—and economic policies. United Van Lines has released its annual report for 2009, based on those the moving company has relocated across one state line to another, and the winner is . . . (snip) As for the biggest winner, well, our readers won't be surprised to learn that it was Washington, D.C. by a large margin. United Van Lines moved nearly seven families to the...

Federal agencies in the Washington, DC, area are OPEN under an UNSCHEDULED LEAVE policy. This Means . . . Employees who cannot report for work may request unscheduled leave for their entire scheduled workday. Employees must notify their supervisors of their intent to take unscheduled leave. Emergency employees are expected to report for work on time.

Federal workers owed more than $3 billion in income taxes in 2008, according to the Internal Revenue Service, a figure down slightly from 2007.The agency reported that 276,300 current and retired federal employees owed $3,042,200,000 in 2008, down from $3,586,784,725 in unpaid taxes in 2007. The list includes White House and Congressional staffers and current and former active-duty and reserve members of the military. The agency provides an updated snapshot of tax habits among current and former federal workers each year and provides copies of the list to reporters upon request. The agency does not provide similar snapshots of the...

The president of one of America’s largest labor unions, Gerry McEntee, has emerged as a major obstacle to the White House’s efforts to maintain a unified front in the health care debate. The veteran president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) has crossed lines that few labor leaders – even those who quietly agree with him – would go near.