Federal Daily - November 5, 2009

Transfer of Unused PTO into TSP Would Require New Legislation

Back in September, President Obama encouraged American employees to put payments for unused vacation and sick days into their retirement plans. But allowing retiring federal employees to transfer their unused paid time off into the Thrift Savings Plan would require congressional action, the head of the TSP told the House Federal Workforce Subcommittee, which assembled on Nov. 3 to discuss matters pertinent to the federal retirement plan. Greg Long, executive director of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, said that while the annual leave federal employees receive falls within the purview of two recent IRS rulings allowing the movement of such unused funds into a retirement plan, any such plan’s rules must specifically permit the transfer. Long said that the Federal Employees’ Retirement System Act of 1986, which serves as the TSP’s governing plan document, does not currently permit participants to contribute the dollar value of unused PTO to their TSP accounts. “Federal employees now cannot contribute unused annual leave or unused sick leave to their TSP accounts unless Congress amends FERSA to specifically allow them to do so,” Long said. “The Board would be pleased to implement a program of TSP contributions from unused leave if authorized by the Congress.” National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley, who also testified, supported a move on the issue by Congress, and said that many of her union’s members “carry over the maximum amount of annual leave (240 hours) on a yearly basis, so this could significantly boost their TSP accounts.” To see more, go to:
http://federalworkforce.oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=2665 (hearing), or www.nteu.org/PressKits/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?ID=1497.

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Group Offers Military Kids Loans/Grants for College

Children of certain qualified members of the military and reserve and retired servicemembers can apply for interest-free college loans and grants through a program offered by the Military Officers Association of America, the group said on Nov. 3. This school year (2009-2010), the MOAA Scholarship Fund will award about 1,600 loans and grants, the association said, and more than 485 of the students will be first-time recipients. Applications for the next school year (2010-2011) opened Nov. 2. To be eligible to apply, a student must be under age 24 and be a child of a former, currently serving or retired commissioned or warrant officer, or be a child of currently serving or retired enlisted military personnel. If a student served in a uniformed service before attending or completing college, the program will raise the maximum age for eligibility by the number of years served, up to five years. The program is open to graduating high school seniors or full-time college students working toward their first undergraduate degree, MOAA said. Applicants must have a grade point average of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale, and are evaluated on scholastic ability, potential, participation in extracurricular and community activities, and financial need. The fund has extended interest-free loans totaling more than $80 million since the program’s inception in 1948. To see more, go to: www.moaa.org/multimedia/multimedia_release/multimedia_
release_archive/multimedia_release_2009archive/
multimedia_release_091103.htm

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Prison Life Gets Tougher—For Federal Guards

Any hardships most feds encounter pale next to those faced by the guards at the U.S. Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pa. The guards’ union, the American Federation of Government Employees, and its Council of Prison Locals, on Nov. 3 asked for an immediate meeting with Attorney General Eric Holder after one correctional officer was stabbed by two inmates and four responding officers required medical attention. The attack marked the second violent incident there in less than a week, the union said. Part of the reason, AFGE said, is that federal prisons are understaffed—inmate-to-staff ratio is 150 to one in most correctional assignments, and can be as high as 300 to one. What’s more, correctional officers are unarmed inside the facility. AFGE also is calling for stab-resistant vests for all guards. Staff members at federal prisons routinely sustain injuries, judging from the posts on the council’s Web site: www.cpl33.info/id29.html.

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