Congressman Darrell Issa Goes After Size of Federal Workforce
From Governemnt Executive
Rep. Darrell Issa, the ranking member on the House Oversight and Government Reform, went after the size of the federal workforce in general this morning at the opening of a hearing on the sorry financial state of the Postal Service. He claimed that the Postal Service has “more or less” a third more workers than it actually needs, and while insisting that he wants to support Postal workers and make sure they’re fully employed, is making no bones about the fact that he thinks the federal government is overstaffed.
House Subcommittee Approves Measures to Benefit Federal Employees
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 10 a.m. in room 2154 of the Rayburn House Office Building, the Subcommittee on held a business meeting and approved several priority pieces of legislation.
Introduced by Subcommittee Chairman Stephen F. Lynch (D-MA), H.R. 4489 will strengthen federal oversight of the prescription drug benefits available to federal employees through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). Specifically, the FEHBP Prescription Drug Integrity, Transparency, and Cost Savings Act will provide the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) greater contract authority over Pharmacy Benefit Managers to better ensure that federal workers and retirees, as well as taxpayers, are receiving the best benefits at the best price.
In addition, H.R. 4865, the Federal Employees and Uniformed Services Retirement Equity Act of 2010, introduced by Chairman Lynch and Subcommittee Ranking Member Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), will allow federal and postal employees, as well as members of the armed forces, to deposit unused annual leave into their Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) accounts. The legislation will allow the TSP to remain in line with the offerings currently available to private-sector workers participating in 401(k) plans.
Furthermore, H.R. 1722, the Telework Improvements Act of 2009, introduced by Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD), will serve to improve the effectiveness of telework programs across the federal government. In response to agency and employee concerns regarding the current underutilization of telework, H.R. 1722 will require each agency to designate a Telework Managing Officer and implement a series of agency reporting requirements in order to enhance the availability of information regarding the status of individual agency telework programs.
Finally, H.R. 3913, the Major General David F. Wherley, Jr. District of Columbia National Guard Retention and College Access Act, introduced by Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), will significantly broaden the educational opportunities available to members of the National Guard of the District of Columbia by authorizing additional grant funding for education assistance. Per a Manager’s Amendment offered by Chairman Lynch and approved by the Subcommittee, D.C. National Guard members will receive up to $6,000 in education assistance per year.
“By approving H.R. 4489, the FEHBP Prescription Drug Integrity, Transparency, and Cost Savings Act, I’m pleased that the Subcommittee has taken the first step towards ensuring greater transparency and accountability in FEHBP contracting for the benefit of our hardworking federal and postal employees, and for federal taxpayers at large,” said Chairman Stephen F. Lynch. “I’m also pleased by the Subcommittee’s action on H.R. 4865, H.R. 1722, and H.R. 3913, all of which represent common sense solutions to enhancing the federal government’s workforce recruitment and retention efforts, as well as that of the D.C. National Guard.”
H.R. 4489, H.R. 4865, H.R. 1722, and H.R. 3913 have now been referred to the full Committee on Oversight & Government Reform for further consideration.
EEOC 2009 Annual Report On USPS Workforce
From United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC):
“This report covers the period from October 1, 2007, through September 30, 2008. The September 30 snapshot includes only employees in pay status thus, some permanent employees, like seasonal employees or those on active military tours of duty are not included….. while the United States Postal Service constituted 27.6% of the work force, it accounted for 47.1% of all EEO counselings, 36.6% of all complaints filed, 36.9% of all completed investigations and 40.8% of all complaints closed in FY 2008.”
Among the cabinet/large (15,000 or more employees) agencies, in FY 2008, the USPS reported the highest percentage (2.2%) of its work force that completed counseling, while the government-wide average was 1.2%
In FY 2008, the U.S. Postal Service again had the highest ADR participation rate in the pre-complaint process (74.1%) among the cabinet/large agencies, while the government-wide average was 49.5%.
The US Postal Service timely completed 99.5% of its 4,113 investigations in FY 2008.
In FY 2008, the U. S. Postal Service reported the second highest percentage (95.9%) of timely issued merit decisions without an Administrative Judge of agencies with 15,000 or more employees.
Targeted Disabilities
As of September 30, 2008, USPS employed 5,479 (0.83%) Individuals with Targeted Disabilities (IWTD). In order to have met the federal 2% participation rate goal, 15,259 IWTD were needed. This represented a decrease of 266 employees over FY 2007 and a decrease of 858 employees since FY 2004. The participation rate for FY 2007 was 0.84% and for FY 2004 was 0.9%. Over the 5-year period USPS had a net decrease of 0.07% in employees with targeted disabilities.
Costs
USPS agreed to pay $703,467 for 5,504 pre-complaint settlements, of which 456 were monetary settlements averaging $1,542. USPS expended a total of $6,175,445 for 4,113 complaint investigations, for an average expenditure of $1,501.
USPS agreed to pay a total of $5,777,740 plus other benefits for 669 complaint closures through settlement agreements, final agency decisions, and final agency orders fully implementing AJ decisions. For the 443 complaint closures with monetary benefits, the average award was $13,042.