PeoplePlus Update Improving Tracking of Credit Hours

The following is an update from EPA on improvements to PeoplePlus, Release 9, that allow employees on more kinds of schedules to track credit hours more accurately and easily. NTEU was actively involved in pushing the agency to make these important changes to improve employees’ ability to earn and record credit hours.

“As requested during the focus group discussions following the implementation of PeoplePlus 9.2, the agency was taking necessary steps to address concerns over the recording of credit hours. Please be advised that an update was made to PeoplePlus, Release 9. The release allows all employees on flexible schedules, including the Maxiflex schedule, to record earned credit hours daily in PeoplePlus, as opposed to recording earned credit hours only after fulfilling their biweekly work hour requirement.”

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Funding Update: House Passes Spending Deal with Agency Funding, 3.1% Pay Raise

On December 17, 2019, the House approved two appropriations bills to keep the government open, fund agencies for fiscal year (FY) 2020 and provide federal employees with a pay raise.

The bipartisan legislation provides for an average 3.1 percent pay increase (a 2.6 percent across-the-board pay increase and 0.5 percent increase for locality pay rates), which is on par with members of the military. This is a welcome departure from the administration's initial call for a pay freeze and later a 2.6 percent across-the board increase.

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Historic Passage of Paid Parental Leave for Federal Employees

Passed by the Senate on December 17, 2019, the 12-week paid parental leave program is part of a defense bill that the president is expected to sign into law. The House approved the legislation last week. The program, beginning in October 2020, will allow federal employees to use paid leave for the birth, adoption or fostering of a child…

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Trump Directs 2019 Pay Freeze

Today, the President sent congressional leaders a formal letter transmitting an alternative pay plan for the calendar year 2019 pay raise for federal workers in the General Schedule that would block a pay raise for January 2019 and freeze current pay rates—both the annual across-the-board pay increase as well as locality pay rates.  

Under current law, the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act, absent congressional action to establish a pay raise, the annual, across-the-board pay raise for most federal employee is set using a formula tied to the Department of Labor’s Employment Cost Index (ECI), which measures the rise in private sector pay.  Under the formula prescribed under this law….

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Pay Raise Clears Senate Appropriations Committee

Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a funding bill that would provide federal workers with an average pay increase of 1.9 percent in 2019. While inflation has been at 2.8% for the 12 months preceding June 2018, 1.9% is better than the cuts proposed by the administration.

“When the administration says federal employees don’t deserve fair pay….

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Union Files Grievance Challenging Wasteful Timekeeping System

The EPA Inspector General investigates fraud, waste, and abuse, and defines "waste" as "extravagant, careless or needless expenditure of government funds, or the consumption of government property that results from deficient practices, systems, controls or decisions." The Office of Chief Financial Officer's roll-out of the latest PeoplePlus "upgrade" certainly qualifies. This new system caused thousands of wasted employee hours to accomplish what was previously being done in only a few minutes.

Our informal surveys of employees revealed dozens of hours of wasted time per employee just trying to accurately input time. We learned that many employees on flexible schedules were taking up to two hours to get time certified every two weeks. Assuming 20% of employees are on flexible schedules, that is approximately 5,800 wasted hours each pay period.....

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The Clock is Running on Next Shutdown Threat

Unless you were on another planet, you know by now that another short-term continuing resolution (CR) was passed to keep the government open. This CR expires at midnight on February 8, 2018, which means that if a budget deal is not reached in Congress by then and signed by the President, the government will again shut down.

EPA announced before the last shutdown that it had funds to operate for about a week. Assuming that's true, and knowing that we've used one of those days of funds while the rest of the government was shut down, it is likely that EPA will be able to operate through February 14 or 15 before needing to shutter the doors.

NTEU National was on the Hill fighting for us and obtained two large victories....

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Cuts are coming, but......

....the question is:  when? 

You've probably seen the Greenwire story covering the budget cuts at EPA announced by the White House today. But while the White House wants to significantly cut EPA, there are a number of procedural obstacles in their way that would delay those cuts, hopefully into the next fiscal year. Here's why.....

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Rally at U.S. Capitol

Please join NTEU members from across the country as we rally at the U.S. Capitol for fair pay, a secure retirement, and respect.

The rally happens:

when:  Thursday, March 2, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
where:  U.S. Capitol, West Front Lawn

Use your lunch time to rally. Anytime over your normal lunch period is considered non-work time and should be accounted for through leave, credit hours, or other absence time.

We really need you to come for this. Now, more than ever it's important that EPA employees stand together.

2.02% Pay Raise Expected for 2017

Earlier in the year the President announced a 1.0% across-the-board pay raise for federal General Schedule (GS) employees. Now, under different authority, the President transmitted to Congress his plan to provide an additional 0.6% average locality pay increase for federal GS employees.

In the Washington-Baltimore area, this means GS employees will receive a 2.02% pay raise after January 1, 2017.

According to the Office of Personnel Management, the....

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Use or Lose Leave

You may have seen Donna Vizian's memo that came out yesterday regarding "use-or-lose leave." The memo is required by the NTEU-EPA Collective Bargaining Agreement's (CBA) Article 19, Section 3, to minimize the possibility that you inadvertently forfeit leave over the maximum 240 hours of leave employees are allowed to carry from one year to the next. If you give up leave, you're effectively throwing money down the drain.

You are entitled to take annual leave.....

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Long-term Care Insurance Premium Increases

Many of you know that you're eligible for long-term care insurance as a federal employee. The Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP) helps you pay for care when you are ill, injured, or disabled. Long term care is care that you need if you can no longer perform everyday tasks by yourself due to a chronic illness, injury, disability or the aging process.

In the past, premiums were relatively stable. However, in 2010 the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) approved premium increases. On Tuesday OPM briefed NTEU's national office regarding yet another premium increase. If you have coverage, expect significant premium increases on November 1, 2016....

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