FMA Legislative Accomplishments

111th Congress

As a member of the oldest and largest association representing federal managers, one of the most important benefits you receive is advocacy. The Federal Managers Association (FMA) strives to bring issues that are important to you, and to the enhancement of public service, to the forefront of Congress and the Administration. As we move toward the conclusion of the 111th Congress, the following are FMA’s accomplishments over the last year and a half.

FMA Priorities on Capitol Hill

BILL CREDITING FERS EMPLOYEES FOR UNUSED SICK LEAVE SIGNED INTO LAW

Legislation signed into law by the President on October 28, 2009, as part of the Fiscal Year 2010 National Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 111-84) affords employees under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) a credit for unused sick leave at the time of retirement, a benefit currently enjoyed by members of the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). According to the new law, those who retire before January 1, 2014, will receive fifty percent of their unused sick leave credited towards their annuity. After the four year phase-in, FERS employees will receive full credit for unused sick leave, on par with the benefit afforded to CSRS employees. The new credit took effect upon the bill becoming law on October 28.

The sick leave credit will be instrumental in enhancing federal managers’ ability to effectively supervise their employees and achieve agency missions. Managers will no longer have to grapple with the challenges posed by FERS employees who use disproportionately more sick leave towards the end of their careers.

For years, FMA members throughout the country expressed their concerns over FERS employees’ use of exorbitant amounts of sick leave as they neared retirement and its effect on productivity. With the cost of sick leave taking its toll on managers’ ability to effectively supervise their workforce, FMA set about crafting a legislative proposal to address the challenges posed by the lack of an incentive to conserve leave.

FMA worked hand-in-hand with Congressman James Moran (D-Va.) and his staff in early 2008 to develop language which would credit FERS employees for unused sick leave. When legislation to this effect was included in the House-passed version of the Defense Authorization Act, FMA aggressively lobbied Members of Congress to include the measure in the bill’s final conference report, ultimately proving successful in this endeavor.

PRESIDENT SIGNS LEGISLATION EXTENDING LOCALITY PAY

Since 1948, federal employees who reside in Alaska, Hawaii, and the U.S. Territories have received a tax-free non-foreign area cost of living adjustment (COLA) in their pay. However, the federal government failed to credit this COLA towards basic pay for retirement purposes, and these federal employees were excluded from receiving locality pay benefits established under the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act (P.L. 101-509). This practice had a devastating effect on the retirement benefits rightly earned by these hardworking civil servants.

As part of the FY10 National Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 111-84), the President approved legislation which phases-out the COLA and phases-in locality pay in the non-foreign areas over a three year period combined with an annuity buy-in aimed at stabilizing the current retirement eligible workforce. The measure also provides for a 35 percent offset to COLA to protect the pay of all federal employees as they transition from COLA to locality pay.

FMA members in Hawaii worked with the Association’s National Office staff to develop legislation that would set this transition in motion. The measure approved in the Defense Authorization Act, introduced by Senator Daniel Akaka (D-Haw.), mirrored FMA’s original proposal.

The new law will help advance the federal government’s status as an employer of choice by enabling agencies in Hawaii, Alaska and the Territories to compete with the private sector and high locality areas on the mainland. Managers and supervisors in these locales are now equipped with a powerful tool to recruit and retain the best and the brightest.

REEMPLOYED ANNUITANTS LEGISLATION SIGNED BY PRESIDENT

President Obama signed into law legislation introduced by Senator Susan Collins (R-Me.) and attached to the FY10 National Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 111-84) which will allow federal agencies to reemploy retired civil servants on a limited basis without forcing these employees to take reductions in salary corresponding to their retirement annuities. The Federal Managers Association fought for this legislation as a means to stem the loss of institutional knowledge through the impending wave of retirement facing the federal workforce.

Federal employees seeking a return to service following retirement were previously penalized in the form of a pay reduction to offset their federal retirement annuity. Under the new law, reemployment will be limited to 520 hours in the first six months following retirement, and 1,040 hours in any 12 month period without a reduction in compensation. Reemployed annuitants will be able to contribute a total of 3,120 hours of service before any offset to annuity occurs. While the individuals will receive both salary and annuity payments, they will not be considered employees for the purposes of retirement and will receive no additional retirement benefits based on their service.

FMA began its fight for this legislation in 2007 when the idea first gained traction in the Executive Branch and Congress. The Association is pleased this common sense bill received bipartisan support and was signed into law despite opposition from outside groups.

FMA SUCCESSFUL IN FIGHT TO SECURE SSA FUNDING FOR 2010

The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) currently faces a backlog of 695,000 pending hearing requests, a daunting number which impedes the agency’s ability to deliver needed services to the American public. Ensuring that SSA has the funds to meet the American people’s needs remains a top priority for FMA, particularly as the agency faces a flood of disability claims as a result of the economic downturn facing the nation.

Due to the lobbying efforts of FMA and others vested in SSA’s success, the agency reduced the number of hearing requests by 73,000 cases since December 2008, marking the first time in a decade the agency has successfully driven down the hearings backlog. The agency also reduced the average processing time required by each case, improving from 514 days to 437 days during the same time period. The agency could not have achieved this success without FMA’s and others’ efforts to secure adequate funding for FY09.

The Association also aggressively lobbied Congress to secure the President’s requested funding figure of $11.4 billion for SSA’s administrative expenses in the Fiscal Year 2010 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Act, H.R. 3293, to ensure the continued success enjoyed by the agency. FMA delivered several letters to Congress urging approval of the President’s request, which SSA Commissioner Michael Astrue said would be necessary to combat the backlog. The Association also presented testimony before Congress in March 2009 requesting greater financial support in order to equip SSA with the necessary tools to attack the backlog.

Congress ultimately included the President’s funding request, a ten percent increase over FY09 funding, in the $446.8 billion 2010 omnibus appropriations bill (P.L. 111-117), which the President signed into law on December 16. FMA also backs the President’s request of $12.4 billion for the agency’s administrative expenses in FY11. In July, the House Appropriations Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee issued its support for the President’s FY11 request.

CHANGES TO THRIFT SAVINGS PLAN TAKE SHAPE

The Federal Managers Association is a member of the Employee Thrift Advisory Council (ETAC), a collection of federal employee groups vested in the success of the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). ETAC meets with the TSP Board throughout the year to recommend changes to the TSP that assist federal employees. FMA, as a member of the ETAC, was instrumental in helping craft several legislative changes during the spring of 2009 benefitting civil servants enrolled in the TSP.

The President signed legislation in June 2009 which included language instituting several adjustments to the TSP. As part of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, P.L. 111-31, newly hired federal employees will be automatically enrolled in the TSP beginning in August 2010, diverging from past practices where individual employees were required to opt into the plan. The default contribution rate will be set at three percent, and the government securities fund (G Fund) will serve as the default for new automatic enrollees. Following enrollment, employees will be able to adjust their contribution levels and direct investments to the various other available funds. Employees can also opt out of the TSP completely. The law further requires that agencies provide participants immediate automatic and matching contributions, eliminating the waiting period previously in place.

Another provision calls for the creation of a Roth 401(k) option, which taxes the contributions of participants when they are first made, insulating individuals from future tax increases. Under the current system, participants’ accounts are taxed upon withdrawal, and establishment of the Roth option, which will go into effect at the end of 2011, is expected to be popular among those enrolled in the TSP. By the end of 2010, surviving spouses of participants will also be able to retain an inherited account under the new law.

In March, at the urging of those vested in the success of the TSP, Members of Congress introduced legislation (H.R. 4865) that would allow federal and postal employees to invest the cash-value of their unused annual leave in their TSP accounts at the time of retirement. The measure received the support of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in April. Additionally, the TSP Board unveiled a redesigned TSP Web site in July of this year. The improved Web site will enable TSP participants to supervise their accounts more efficiently. ETAC urged the Board to overhaul its site after years of complaints from TSP enrollees.

MANAGERIAL TRAINING LEGISLATION GAINS TRACTION

Current law requires federal agencies to create programs providing federal managers with supervisory training, but the statute provides no funding mechanism, few details on the type of training agencies should provide, and fails to establish any accountability measures to ensure training takes place. Consequently, these discretionary programs are often the first to see their funding cut when budgets are tight, and agency budgets are always tight. The result is that many federal employees promoted to supervisory positions wait over a year before they receive any type of management training. As employees are often promoted to supervisory positions based on their technical skills, it is imperative agencies devote proper attention to the development of their managerial skill sets to enable these individuals to excel under their expanded responsibilities.

FMA, as a member of the Government Managers Coalition (GMC), a group of five federal sector executive and management professional associations, worked closely with Senator Daniel Akaka (D-Haw.) in the 110 th Congress to craft legislation requiring agencies to provide federal managers and supervisors with initial training spanning a wide range of management topics within one year of promotion to a supervisory role and ongoing training updates every three years. With the inclusion of accountability provisions establishing competency standards to ensure training is conducted effectively, backed by data collection requirements to monitor implementation of the bill’s provisions, the Federal Supervisor Training Act of 2007 sought to ensure agencies provided managers and supervisors the training they need to promote an efficient and responsive civil service.

At the beginning of the 111 th Congress, Sen. Akaka reintroduced his training bill (S. 674), and FMA continues to work with the Senator to advance the legislation, providing written testimony in support of the bill and working with other Members of the Senate to garner greater support for the measure. In June of this year, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted unanimously to approve S. 674, prepping the bill for consideration by the full Senate. Additionally, Congressman Jim Moran (D-Va.) introduced a companion measure (H.R. 5522) in the House of Representatives in June. The bill passed the House Oversight and Government reform Subcommittee on July 21.

Supervisors are tasked with managing complex personnel systems, conducting performance reviews, and dealing with personnel issues, such as adverse action claims. FMA is committed to working with Congress to ensure the American public is afforded a federal workforce with the skills necessary to fully achieve agency missions by equipping our federal workforce leaders with the tools to succeed.

Advocacy Before Congress

FMA PRESENTS PLAN TO COMBAT SSA BACKLOG IN ORAL, WRITTEN TESTIMONY

Federal Managers Association Chapter 275 Immediate Past President James Fell presented testimony on the Association’s behalf during a joint hearing in March of 2009 to discuss strategies to eliminate the current disability hearing backlog impeding the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) delivery of needed services to the American public. Presented before the House Ways and Means Subcommittees on Social Security and Income Security and Family Support, Fell’s testimony offered insight into the challenges facing SSA’s Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) and the steps Congress should take to ensure the agency affords taxpayers the level of service they expect and deserve. As a current ODAR Hearing Office Director, Fell offered a unique perspective on the situation.

FMA also submitted testimony for the record in May 2010 in response to statements made during a joint hearing concerning the backlog held by the House Ways and Means Subcommittees on Social Security and Income Security and Family Support. In its statement, the Association argued that although ODAR has made significant strides recently in combating the backlog of pending disability hearing requests, Congress and the President must continue to provide SSA with adequate funding to build on its momentum.

FMA commended Congress, the President, and SSA Commissioner Michael Astrue in the Association’s testimony for their commitment to tackling the backlog, but noted that the inconsistency among dispositions processed by Administrative Law Judges (ALJs), which ODAR uses to measure office productivity, varied significantly across regions, a cause for concern. Without holding ALJs to a stronger level of production and supplying them with adequate staff to prepare cases, FMA argued, SSA will never fully eliminate the backlog

After years of underfunding, ODAR received the President’s budget request of $11.4 billion for fiscal year 2010 administrative expenses, a ten percent increase over FY09. FMA is pleased to have worked with other stakeholders in achieving this figure.

FMA has testified three times before the Ways and Means subcommittees and has submitted an additional five statements for the record to both the House and the Senate on the matter over the past few years.

FMA BRINGS NSPS TRANSITION CONCERNS BEFORE CONGRESS TWICE

Federal Managers Association then-National President Darryl Perkinson provided testimony before the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee on April 1, 2009, to discuss many of the challenges faced by federal managers engaged at the time in the National Security Personnel System (NSPS), the Pentagon’s now defunct pay-for-performance program. During the hearing, Perkinson provided the Subcommittee with several recommendations to both correct deficiencies present in the program if the Pentagon decided to retain the system, and to provide for a smooth transition if the decision was made to terminate the program and return to the General Schedule.

As a current Department of Defense (DOD) employee, Perkinson offered a unique outlook on the system. He detailed his own experiences and discussed how many FMAmembers expressed their desire to dispel with NSPS entirely based on inequities within the system. He continued by urging the Subcommittee to work with NSPS officials and federal employee groups to determine how best to implement personnel reforms in a manner that affords those charged with their execution the tools to succeed.

Enactment of the fiscal year 2010 National Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 111-84) signified the end of NSPS, but it marked only the beginning of a long, tenuous process of determining how to manage the 226,000 federal employees who serve under the system. Reaffirming its commitment to protecting the interests of all civil servants enrolled in NSPS, FMA released a position paper outlining the Association’s concerns and recommendations as the Pentagon moves forward with the transition process.

On June 9, 2010, current FMA National President Patricia Niehaus presented testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management outlining the concerns laid out in the Association’s paper. Niehaus’ testimony focused on DOD’s decision to subject high-performing employees to the policy of pay retention, which reduces the annual pay increase individuals receive by fifty percent. Niehaus informed the Subcommittee that the NSPS workers who are facing the pay cap represented those who were rated the highest under the system, reinforcing that performance is not sufficiently recognized in the federal workforce. As the Labor Relations Officer for Travis Air Force Base in California transitioning out of NSPS herself, Niehaus explained that she would stand among those subjected to pay retention.

During her testimony, Niehaus also expressed concerns regarding DOD’s expediency in converting employees to the General Schedule. Niehaus further detailed FMA’s support for the reevaluation of job classifications to more accurately align managers’ and supervisors’ job descriptions with the duties they perform on a routine basis.

FMA TESTIMONY PROVIDES SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE CIVIL SERVICE

Federal Managers Association National President Patricia Niehaus, President of FMA Chapter 167 at the time, presented testimony on April 22, 2009, before the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia, outlining several of the Association’s suggestions for improving the civil service during this challenging work environment.

In her testimony, Niehaus covered several areas of concern FMA has placed on the forefront of its agenda, including the need for mandatory managerial training, greater use of recruitment and retention tools such as student loan repayment and an end to the proliferation of multiple personnel systems, particularly in regard to pay-for-performance. Significant attention must be directed towards streamlining the federal hiring process as well, Niehaus recommended, in order to equip agencies with the necessary talent to advance their missions in the face of rising workloads.

FMA TESTIMONY CHALLENGES TAX DELINQUENCY BILL

On March 17, 2010, Federal Managers Association National Secretary Richard Oppedisano presented testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce to discuss legislation introduced by Ranking Member Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) that would bar federal employees facing “seriously delinquent tax debt” from serving the government. Expressing concern over both the intent and practical application of the bill, H.R. 4735, Oppedisano urged the Subcommittee to hold federal employees to the same standards as the rest of the general public while considering other means to recoup payments owed by tax-delinquent civil servants.

According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), federal employees, federal retirees, active duty military and retired military owed a cumulative $3 billion in unpaid taxes in 2008. Removing active duty military employees and all retirees from the equation, current active federal employees, those targeted under the bill, accounted for $962 million in unpaid taxes, 32 percent of the total amount owed. Approximately 97,000 employees, less than five percent of the active federal workforce, contributed to the figure.

Oppedisano and members of the Subcommittee agreed that the complexity of the tax system, along with the fact IRS is more likely to recoup taxes owed through established channels such as the garnishing of wages, rendered H.R. 4735 impractical. Oppedisano informed the Subcommittee that laws addressing delinquent taxpayers are currently in place, and Congress should work to ensure that these laws are enforced judiciously across the board before pursuing alternative means of disciplining individuals.

FMA SUBMITS TESTIMONY URGING FOCUS ON MANAGERIAL TRAINING

If the federal government hopes to provide American taxpayers with an efficient and effective federal workforce, greater investments must be made in federal management training programs, the Federal Managers Association told Members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management through written testimony during an April 29, 2010, hearing examining civil service development issues.

FMA argued that the evolution of federal agency responsibilities over the years has catalyzed the need for a knowledge-based workforce, one that is less consumed with manufacturing widgets and more oriented towards information processing. Just as the skills required by civil servants are evolving dramatically, FMA continued, the responsibilities federal managers and supervisors shoulder in the modern workplace are transforming as well, growing in complexity and requiring progressive talents. FMA’s testimony maintained that congressional approval of the Federal Supervisor Training Act (S. 674) is required to provide managers and supervisors with training covering the full gamut of supervisory responsibilities to improve agency productivity.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee heeded FMA’s call by approving S. 674 during a markup in June.

For more information on FMA’s advocacy efforts or to view copies of FMA testimony, please visit: www.fedmanagers.org.