Congress is once again setting its sights on changing federal benefits in multiple ways.
Under the reintroduced bill, former temporary and seasonal federal employees would have the opportunity to make “catch-up” contributions to their retirement accounts.
Reintroduced by Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Washington), Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska), and Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.) did. Federal Retirement Equity Act last week.
Although many temporary employees eventually transition to permanent government employment, seasonal and temporary federal employees currently do not have the opportunity to receive severance pay during their previous employment.
Lawmakers said they discovered several years ago that former temporary workers had to work longer hours than their government colleagues to receive the same retirement benefits. Kilmer first introduced the bill in 2019.
Decades ago, the Office of Personnel Management allowed these federal employees to make supplemental contributions, Kilmer said. But Congress eliminated this option when the federal government transitioned to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) in the 1980s.
The Federal Retirement Equity Act is designed to give former seasonal and temporary federal employees, such as wildland firefighters and park rangers, an opportunity to recover retirement benefits to help them retire on time if they convert to full-time government employment. .
So far, there is no Senate bill to accompany the House bill.
Labor unions and federal organizations, including the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the Federal Managers Association (FMA), and the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), support the bipartisan House bill.
“These dedicated employees are being forced to choose between leaving the federal civil service without receiving their full retirement benefits or working longer hours than their colleagues to receive their full retirement benefits,” NFFE National President Randy Irwin said in a statement. “It is being treated as such,” he said. “For workers in physically demanding or dangerous jobs, this leaves them choosing between two bad options: Resigning without the security you thought you were entitled to.” “Or work several years longer than other colleagues and risk your health and safety.”
In addition to the Federal Retirement Equity Act, there are three other bills worth noting.
Increase death benefits for federal employees
Lawmakers in the House and Senate are moving forward with new efforts to increase death benefits for federal employees.
The bill, reintroduced earlier this month by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.), Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pennsylvania), would provide benefits to families and survivors. This updates the amount of money. Number of federal civilian personnel killed in the line of duty.
Families of federal employees killed in the line of duty receive a lump sum and a payment to cover funeral costs.
Sinema and other bipartisan co-sponsors said: Memorial law for civil servants killed in the line of duty It would provide federal civilians with death benefits equal to the benefits military members already receive.
Currently, a one-time tax-free payment of $100,000 will be made to survivors of eligible Foreign Service and military personnel who die while on active duty or in certain reserve positions, regardless of cause of death.
However, for civilian federal employees, the amount included in death benefits has not been updated since 1997, and compensation for funeral expenses has not changed since 1966.
Currently, survivors of federal employees killed in the line of duty will receive a one-time benefit of $10,000 and $800 for funeral expenses.
If this bill passes, the amount of benefits will increase tenfold. Survivors will receive a death benefit of $100,000, with an additional $8,800 to cover funeral expenses.
“This gap in the law has a devastating impact on families who must carry both the financial burden and the emotional burden,” Larry Cosme, national president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, said in a statement. . “This legislation solves that problem and ensures that all survivors of federal employees killed in the line of duty are entitled to equal and strong financial benefits in honor of the fallen public servant.”
The bill also aims to prevent death and funeral benefits from becoming outdated by including an automatic cost-of-living adjustment provision.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) is scheduled to increase the bill on Wednesday.
Years of efforts to abolish Social Security’s “evil twin”
Some retired federal employees and their spouses may take another look at their chance to collect their full Social Security benefits.
Representatives Garrett Graves (R-Louisiana) and Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), and Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) are the two The hospital system was reintroduced. Social Security Fairness Act In January.
If passed, this bill would repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO). A 20-year-old provision of the Social Security Act of 1935 reduces or, in some cases, eliminates Social Security benefits for certain retirees in the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS).
WEP particularly affects federal employees and other public sector employees. These employees held jobs covered by Social Security, usually in the private sector, while receiving pensions while in government. WEP does not affect Federal Employees Retirement System retirees because FERS employees already pay into Social Security.
Lawmakers have been reintroducing this bill for decades, but just last year it received unprecedented attention.
Last Congress’ bipartisan bill had 305 House co-sponsors and 42 Senate co-sponsors.
There are currently 298 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives for the Social Security Fairness Act, which exceeds the 290-member threshold required for a motion to advance the bill. House of Commons Agreement Calendar.
If it passes this threshold, the bill could be taken up by the House Ways and Means Committee for consideration. Alternatively, although unlikely, lawmakers could force a floor vote.
Several other bills would also change WEP and GPO for federal retirees.
Public servant protection and fairness law
Public servant equal treatment law
Bringing more “accountability” to federal telework
Finally, lawmakers took a different approach to addressing the future of telework and remote work policies for federal employees.
Earlier this month, Sens. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) introduced the Telework Reform Act, which aims to increase accountability and transparency for federal telework. .
in particular, Telework reform law It would codify labor definitions for telework and remote work, effectively requiring federal employees who work from home to report to the office at least twice every two-week pay period.
Among its many provisions, the bill would establish even more data requirements and require agencies to annually report to Congress on productivity gains and cost savings from telework and remote work.
The bill has been referred to HSGAC, but so far no companion bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives.
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