Federal Daily - August 28, 2008
OPM Issues Final Rule on Pay Authority for Hard-To-Fill Jobs
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a final rule on Aug. 26 that lays out regulations
that provide agencies with authority to offer higher wages for critical, hard-to-fill federal civilian
positions. The regulations, published in the Federal Register, provide a blueprint for agencies
who want to offer higher pay—via the Critical Position Pay Authority (CPPA)—to candidates
for certain scientific, technical, professional and administrative positions. The regulations go into
effect on Sept. 25. Agencies that want to use the CPPA to lure in highly qualified candidates
must first obtain OPM permission. The rule also emphasizes that such positions are approved on a case-by-case
basis, and not as part of an entire class of workers, the notice said. OPM “believes the government
must use all available human resources management tools at its disposal to ensure federal agencies
are able to recruit and retain qualified employees,” the notice said. To see more, go to: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-19758.pdf.
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AFGE Asks Candidates to Renew Credibility of Public Service
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) issued a call to both presidential candidates
to reestablish credibility in the federal public service system and abandon the efforts of the Bush
administration to “disassemble the federal government” via private contracting. In an open
statement dated Aug. 26, AFGE called on both Barack Obama and John McCain to restore the credibility
of public service and to reinvest in the federal infrastructure so that agencies can operate at full
potential. AFGE called on the candidates to rein in the A-76 process, which the union said was administered
unfairly, and punished civilian workers and their unions. “The way this administration has systematically
sought to disassemble the federal government and hand over taxpayer dollars to its contractor cronies
has been shameful,” AFGE said. The union also called on the candidates and Congress to increase
funding for the veterans health care system, which is expected to see growing demands arising from
two wars and an aging patient population. And, it said, Congress and the next president should extend
to Department of Homeland Security employees the same statutory protections that are enjoyed by most
other federal workers. To see more, go to: www.afge.org/Index.cfm?Page=PressReleases&PressReleaseID=884.
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Videos Released to Support Children, Deployed Troops
The Army announced on Aug. 25 it had released two videotapes—developed by military pediatricians—that
are aimed at helping children and their families cope with the stresses of military deployment. The
Military Child and Adolescent Deployment Support Video Program is intended to offer advice for military
children and adolescents during deployment, as well as help sensitize the broader community to their
needs. The initial program was funded by a grant from the Healthy People 2010 Chapter Grant Program
of the American Academy of Pediatrics and receives continued support through the Army Medical Command.
The first video, Military Youth Coping With Separation: When Family Members Deploy, is narrated
by a teenager who experienced family deployment, the Army said in a statement. The second video, Mr.
Poe and Friends Discuss Reunion After Deployment, features an animated character, Mr. Poe, who
interacts with families at an airport as they await the return of relatives who have been deployed. “We
hope these videos will decrease feelings of stigma and isolation in our military children while sensitizing
the larger American community to military child and adolescent culture and support needs,” said
Maj. Keith Lemmon, of the pediatrics department at Madigan Army Medical Center at Fort Lewis, Wash.
To see more, go to: www.health.mil/Press/Release.aspx?ID=321.
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