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African Americans make up 17.4 percent of the federal workforce, as compared to 10.1 percent of the civilian labor force. But the percentage of African Americans drops dramatically with each rise in job grade. They hold 27.6 percent of the lowest positions (GS 1-4), 25.8 percent of GS 5-8, 15.7 percent of GS 9-12, 10.9 percent of GS 13-15 and just 6.9 percent of Senior Pay levels. Advance Your Career Hispanics make up just 7.3 percent of the federal workforce versus 12.6 percent of the civilian labor force. They hold about 9 percent of the GS 1-4 and 5-8 job...

The largest federal employee union filed a class action lawsuit Monday against the federal personnel office, its leaders and one of its contractors, arguing that negligence contributed to what government officials are calling one of the most damaging cyberthefts in U.S. history. The suit by the American Federation of Government Employees names the Office of Personnel Management, its director, Katherine Archuleta, and its chief information officer, Donna Seymour. It also names Keypoint Government Solutions, an OPM contractor

The government is taking action to curb the long-maligned practice of putting federal employees on paid leave for months — and even years — while they wait to be punished for misbehavior or cleared and allowed to return to the office. In a memo last week, Office of Personnel Management director Katherine Archuleta told agency heads that the extensive use of administrative leave throughout government should be just the opposite: a “temporary solution,” only for problem employees who pose a danger to themselves or their colleagues. In other words, if someone poses a threat to his own safety or the...

When he arrived on Capitol Hill in January, freshman Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., discovered something he had no clue was going on. Hundreds of federal employees spend their entire workday -- not doing the business of the government, but working for their unions. Hice told Fox News he was shocked by what he found. "Waste on an egregious level by federal employees who are taking taxpayer monies and using it for purposes other than the reason they were hired," Hice said. It's called "official time," and it was sanctioned into law by Congress in 1978. Lawmakers voted to allow federal...

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said today that President Obama knows how to run small businesses better than small business owners. Asked what the White House message to small business owners who are concerned Obama's proposed new mandatory paid sick leave policy could hurt their bottom line, Earnest replied, "I think the president would have a different view which is to say that this is good business and I think there are any number of examples I can site for you where businesses have chosen to put in place these policies and it's served to reduce the turnover...

The White House will announce a major push Thursday to require paid leave for American workers. In a blog post on LinkedIn Wednesday, Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to the President, said Obama will sign a memorandum to ensure federal employees have access to at least six weeks of paid sick leave when a new child arrives. The president will also call on Congress to offer six weeks of paid administrative leave. “We can't say we stand for family values when so many women in this country have to jeopardize their financial security just to take a few weeks off...

More than 25,000 federal employees will lose their health plans next year as insurance providers drop out of the government’s coverage network, according to the Office of Personnel Management. Affected workers will have the option of switching to other plans within the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, but the number of disruptions will reach the highest level since more than 61,000 enrollees had to change plans in 2009. Insurance providers drop out of the federal workforce’s health program every year, so this year’s changes are nothing new. Companies generally leave the network because they have not attracted enough enrollees to...

The National Treasury Employees Union has a PDF document on its website which shows why any attempt to shrink the government is foredoomed. ”The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) is an independent labor union representing approximately 150,000 employees of 30 agencies of the United States government. The union specializes in representation of non-supervisory federal employees in every classification and pay level in civilian agencies.” The document urges NTEU members to oppose a list of “bad bills” now before congress. Here is the list of “bad bills” verbatim. LEGISLATION PROPOSING REDUCTIONS IN PAY, BENEFITS AND THE SIZE OF THE WORKFORCE H.R....

For years, a particularly enthusiastic entrepreneur pitched his book that purported to show how Americans could get government cash for free — free except for the cost of his book, anyway. It turns out that getting free cash from Uncle Sam is even easier than he promised. The Commerce Department’s Inspector General did an investigation of the Patent and Trademark Office after receiving whistleblower complaints about waste, and discovered that dozens of employees got paid for years of arduous duty … such as watching TV, surfing the Internet, and doing their laundry.The best part? Some of them got thousands...

The Obama administration on Tuesday will publish a proposed rule that would give thousands of temporary and seasonal government workers access to the government’s health care program, even though current law would appear to prohibit them from using that program. The rule from the Office of Personnel Management would let these federal workers sign up for coverage under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, and also allow some of them to enjoy a government contribution to their insurance premiums. Both steps would be done through OPM’s proposed regulation, and not through an act of Congress. The proposed rule indicates that...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- From workers in Congress and at the White House to active duty troops, more than 318,000 federal employees and retirees owe just over $3.3 billion in back taxes, the Internal Revenue Service said Thursday. That works out to nearly 3.3 percent of all 9.8 million federal workers and retirees who are behind on their taxes, which is significantly lower than the proportion of delinquent taxpayers in the overall population. The IRS said it estimates that to be at least 8.7 percent...

Sixty-three percent of the federal civilian workers who earned an annual salary of $100,000 or more in 2013 were men, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management. An OPM database—FedScope—contains historical data on the federal civilian workforce going back to 1998. The database contains information about civilian federal workers employed by most Executive Branch agencies (excluding intelligence agencies, the White House, and the Office of the Vice President) and some Legislative Branch agencies. It does not include employees of the Judiciary Branch or congressional staff. …

The White House says President Barack Obama will propose a 1 percent pay raise next year for federal workers.

Work: A new study of government data says that since Oct. 1, federal workers, including bureaucrats and members of Congress, have worked less than three-fourths of the time. To which we respond, how can they tell? Federal workers have long been seen as slack, but they seem to have gotten more so recently.

**SNIP** Democrats were also pleased by Obama’s executive order raising the minimum wage for several hundred thousand federal workers, which plays into their drive to raise the wage nationally to $10.10 per hour. House Republicans are opposed to such a move. And Pelosi and her top lieutenants — many of whom played big roles in the 2010 passage of the Affordable Care Act — were very happy to hear that more one million Americans had signed up for state and federal health exchanges during January, bringing the total Obamacare sign ups to 3.3 million. So while most House Republicans believe...

Going by age demographics, the October 2013 Employment Situation Report released last Friday revealed the following numbers. 578,000 fewer adults (Age 25 and above) were counted as having jobs in the household survey portion of the report.22,000 fewer young adults (Age 20-24) were counted as being employed in October 2013.135,000 fewer teens (Age 16-19) were working in October 2013. The big story, of course, was the partial federal government shut down that saw 815,932 government workers be furloughed at the beginning of October 2013. Here though, that number was quickly cut nearly in half as the Defense department recalled most...

A top Republican has proposed legislation that would allow all Americans to enroll in the health plan used by federal employees and members of Congress. House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who introduced the bill, said the measure would address some of the nation’s key healthcare challenges. “This is a free-market approach to healthcare with government playing the very limited role of helping small businesses and individuals come together to get a better price for healthcare — much like larger businesses can already negotiate on their own,” Issa said in a statement Thursday. Reps. William Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) and...

The federal government shutdown is here, and that means some places around town are offering freebies. Most of these deals are reserved for government workers only, but some are open to everyone. Furloughed workers receive 50% off weekday bookings to @GoApeUSA until 10/18 with Federal ID! Use code "FEDS50" to book at www.goape.com. by GoApeUSA 7:54 PM Reply Permalink ALL performances of Marry Me a Little FREE this weekend for govt employees with promo code GOVT at bpt.me (govt ID required) by cauldronevents 7:54 PM 2:40 PM TwitterOldDominionBrewhouse @OldDominionBrew Week 3 of the Government Shutdown! Happy Hour ALL DAY at...

Hyundai is offering to defer car payments for federal workers kept from their jobs by the government shutdown. The automaker announced on Tuesday that it would allow Hyundai owners to stop making car payments for as long as the shutdown keeps them out of work.

With a national debate still going on as the new national health care plan (Obamacare) is taking effect, what do federal employees think of the new system? This week, we asked their views on being included in the new health care exchanges. There is apparently little debate among the federal workforce. Federal employees do not want to be part of the new system. Instead, they prefer to keep their current health plan based on a survey with about 2500 readers responding. Employees who are already retired have a much stronger negative reaction to being moved to a new system. Those...