Funny though, if you read the comments, it appears that author didn’t bother to get his facts straight.
The Federal Government should pare down to its constitutionally authorized functions, getting rid of Agencies and Departments that are not within its constitutional purview. then it’s ranks would shrink appropriately. That being said…
I am amazed at all the misinformation that has been on this. This is an attempt to get the facts straight.
Not every Agency is unionized.
Indeed, Fair Labor Standards Act DOES apply to Federal Workers,
Mostly at GS-9 and below, just as it does in the private sector. It does not apply to those who are considered Professional, Administrative (management types), or Executives.
Federal workers who are FLSA exempt may, indeed work many extra hours without compensation, and many do. There are NO GS-15s who are restricted to 40 hours a week. The only restrictions on 40 hours a week are on the FLSA covered jobs for which Federal agencies do not want to pay overtime.
As far as outside employment, teaching, writing, etc. that is covered by the ethics laws 5 CFR 2635. The ethics laws are very cumbersome and confusing and prohibit many more activities than there is room for here.
Section 2635.807 …An employee…shall not receive compensation from any source other than the Government for teaching, speaking, or writing that relates to the employee’s official duties… or honorarium prohibition on receipt of compensation for an appearance, speech, or article.
Example: “An HR specialist employed by the publisher of a magazine to write an article on his hobby of collecting arrowheads. Even though the subject matter is unrelated to his official duties, he may not accept the publisher’s offer of $200 for the article. Because the compensation offered is for an article, its receipt would violate the honorarium prohibition contained in 2646.201 – 2636.205.
The benefits of Federal employees are good, but not as good as often thought and should not equated to those of Congress. They are not that generous. Federal employees contribute to their retirement plan, their health insurance plan, and simply purchase their life insurance plan. Under the FERS retirement (in effect since 1987) workers receive 1% of hi-3 average salary for every year of service (i.e., they would get less than 20% replacement for 20 years of service at age 60. In addition they do have an IRA type savings account to which the government contributes up to 5% if the employee also contributes up to 5%, but these are investments that have gone to pot the same as any other IRA.
It is untrue that Federal employees cannot be fired. Although it is certainly not an easy task and does not occur with the frequency as in the private sector due to the excessive appeal rights, it does often happen. This is not to say there are not derelict supervisors who choose to look the other way instead of dealing with poor employees (this happens in the private sector as well).