Federal Daily - December 12, 2008

NTEU, Groups Seek Additional SSA Funding

The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) joined with consortium of 40 organizations in urging lawmakers to support additional funding for the Social Security Administration (SSA), which is struggling to address a massive backlog of disability appeals hearings. The hearings logjam has more than doubled in the past eight years, to about 767,000 cases at the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2008, and the average waiting time to receive a hearing decision was almost 17 months, according to the government. The organizations seek final administrative funding for SSA in FY 2009 of no less than the House-recommended level of $10.7 billion—$100 million above President Bush’s request. Although Bush’s budget proposal did recommend an increase in SSA administrative funds, the groups said that proposal is insufficient. NTEU represents about 900 employees in SSA’s Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR). NTEU President Colleen Kelley has been pressing for additional SSA funding for some time. “The only way to stem—much less reverse—the outrageous growth in this backlog is by providing adequate funding for SSA,” she said. “ODAR employees perform exemplary work, but they suffer from a lack of resources.” To see more, go to: www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?ID=1344.

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Princeton Settles Dispute over Public Service School

Princeton University has reached an out-of-court settlement that ends an ongoing court battle over how the school has used one of its major endowments to prepare students for government service through the graduate program at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. At issue was the Robertson Foundation, established in 1961 via a $35 million gift from Marie Robertson earmarked to support a graduate school for public service. However, in recent years Robertson’s heirs grew disillusioned with the way the money was being used and sued to gain control of the funds. Under the terms of the agreement, the Robertson Foundation will be dissolved and its assets will be transferred to Princeton, which will use the money to support the Woodrow Wilson School, the university said in a Dec. 10 statement. The university agreed to reimburse the Robertson family $40 million for legal expenses and direct $50 million over seven years to a new foundation to support efforts to prepare students to work in government. The current value of the endowment is unclear, ranging from $600 million to about $900 million, according to published accounts. To see more, go to: www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S22/81/
66C43/index.xml?section=topstories.

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OPM to Job Seekers, Managers: Talk to Us

Federal Computer Week—The Office of Personnel Management is offering new Applicant and Management Satisfaction Surveys to get the opinions of agency managers and job seekers on specific issues in the federal hiring process, OPM said in a memo to the Chief Human Capital Officers Council. The council helped develop the criteria for the surveys, which support efforts to improve the federal hiring process, Michael Hager, acting OPM director, said in the memo dated Dec. 5. The surveys measure the satisfaction of hiring managers with job announcements, the quantity and quality of applicants, and hiring flexibilities available so the managers can offer positions to the best candidates, he said. OPM plans to compile the survey data and prepare quarterly and annual individual agency and governmentwide reports to support analysis and decisions to change the federal employment process, Hager said. To read the rest of this article, go to: www.fcw.com/online/news/154622-1.html.

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OPM Posts Inauguration Day Info

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has posted information on its Web site pertaining to Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2009. According to the announcement, any employee who works in the District of Columbia; Montgomery or Prince George’s Counties in Maryland; Arlington or Fairfax Counties in Virginia; or the cities of Alexandria or Falls Church in Virginia, and who is regularly scheduled to perform non-overtime work on Inauguration Day, is entitled to a holiday. There is no in-lieu-of-holiday for employees who are not regularly scheduled to work on Inauguration Day, OPM said. For more information on federal holidays, go to: www.opm.gov/Operating_Status_Schedules/fedhol/2009.asp.

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