(from the week of June 30 - July 7)

Too busy during the week to keep up on all the news around your employee benefits and pay? This weekly summary of some of the most useful and interesting news stories could help, and includes some of my insights. You might just refer to it as “What’s George reading this week?”

By the way, if you’ve read something around employee benefits that you think is important, send it to me. And, let me know about news sources that you follow. Have a great weekend.

George Ray

TSP Growth Slows in June

From Govexec.com

Many sites provide a month-end summary of the previous month’s TSP returns, as Government Executive does here. It’s usually a good way to see what’s happening at a glance. Although sometimes, like for the month of June, you may rather not know.

Your Money and Your Life Insurance

From Govexec.com

Tammy Flanagan writes regularly for Government Executive, and I always read her articles. She does an excellent job of covering timely topics, or as in this case, providing a primer on your Federal Employees Group Life Insurance (FEGLI). I was puzzled why she didn’t mention the extra benefit available at no charge for those under 45, but maybe it will show up in next week’s follow-up column.

Lawmakers Want to Extend Bigger Buyouts for Defense Civilian Workers

From Military Times

This article from the Military Times has a headline that I found a bit misleading. I expected to read that lawmakers want to increase the dollar amount of the buyout even further. (The 2017 National Defense Act increased the VSIP amount to $40,000 for DOD employees, although employees of other agencies are still limited to a maximum buyout of $25,000.) But, the lawmakers are really discussing extending the length of time that this amount is available (which is not permanent) beyond the current expiration deadline to 2021. This would give the DOD more flexibility in managing its workforce. That makes sense. It would probably make even more sense to really extend it permanently and to also make it available to all agencies since the $25,000 amount that was established in 1994 provides little incentive to Feds to leave these days.

Stay or Leave: Pros and Cons of Federal vs. Private Sector Employment

From FedSmith.com

Veteran Fed expert John Grobe writes a thoughtful article on a timely topic. Stay or leave? It’s a question that many Feds may have asked themselves – probably recently.  John, a retired Fed, seems to be leaning more towards continuing as a Fed (if you can) as the Federal benefits he cites seem to outweigh the private sector benefits of company cars, contests, and club memberships. You’ll have to decide what’s most important to you.

What You Should Know (and Do) If Your Agency is Downsizing

From FedSmith.com

For some very insightful discussion on benefits issues, I read Jeff Neal. He writes his own blog ChiefHRO and has recently started writing for FedSmith. As a former human resources honcho for Homeland Security and Defense Logistics, his practical experience comes through in his writing. There have been many articles recently on the impact of early retirement offers (VERA) and buyouts (VSIP). In fact, I recently published “An Employee’s Guide to VERA and VSIP” on my site and recorded a 40-minute video on the subject (it’s here if you want to view it). But Jeff’s practical knowledge includes information on how to protect yourself during a Reduction In Force (RIF) which I don’t believe I’ve seen from any other authors. He is always a worthwhile read.

OPM Retirement Claims Backlog Reaches Lowest Point in a Year

From Federal News Radio

Reporter Nicole Ogrysko (whose last name I always find easier to just copy and paste) tells us that “OPM has been slowly reducing its inventory since February when the backlog stood at more than 23,000 claims.” The number of claims at the end of June have been reduced to 14,530, which is still a bit higher than the agency’s self-proclaimed target backlog of 13,000. This is very typical as the number of claims increase in January and slow down through the Spring and Summer – allowing OPM’s processing center in Boyers, PA to catch up.

If you’re interested in how the retirement claims backlog changes from month-to-month, OPM provide a running total here as a PDF

See you next week. Thanks!

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Issue 070717  Published by Federal Benefits Online. Copyright © 2017

Author: George Ray

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