If we can summarize the key themes of the new Congress session so far, many of the stories would revolve around federal employee benefits and pay. For Sen. Brian Schatz and Rep. Gerry Connolly, the focus was on the annual pay raise legislation. The bill returns again, and this time it suggests a 2.2% pay increase and 1% locality pay raise for federal employees.
As well as pay raises, another hot topic in recent weeks has been paid leave benefits. House Democrats remain committed to providing federal workers with more leave for familial and medical reasons. Twelve weeks of paid leave is the suggestion in the Comprehensive Paid Leave for Federal Employees Act, and applicable circumstances include the following:
- Caring for ill family members
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- Dealing with a personal illness
- Helping a family member with active military duty (leaving or returning)
At the moment, the legislation states that 12 weeks of paid leave are available for foster placement, birth, or adoption. Last October, this legislation went into effect as a core segment of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. This isn’t the first time that lawmakers have fought to include family leave in the bill, and it was Senate Republicans who forced a scaled-back version of the legislation in 2020.
Furthermore, an additional bill from bipartisan lawmakers would help federal first responders. The group, containing lawmakers from the Senate and House, want accelerated retirement programs available to those injured while serving, even if this injury forces them to move to another department or job in government.
Sadly, this isn’t currently the case for federal law enforcement agents, firefighters, and other first responders. Since they can retire at age 50 after 20 years of service and cannot work in the field past age 57, these professionals pay extra from their paychecks into federal defined benefit retirement programs. When injured on duty, they lose access to the ‘6c’ retirement program when transferring to a new position (even if the injury comes from the job itself).
This prospective legislation is considered the First Responder Fair RETIRE Act and is led by Sen. Jon Tester and Sen. Brian Fitzpatrick, and Rep. Connolly from the House. If passed, all first responders injured in the line of duty and forced to change jobs within the government will keep all contributions and benefits from their existing retirement program. In some cases, injuries mean that first responders leave federal employment before annuity eligibility; if so, the Act would return all accelerated contributions to the individual.
We’ve seen similar bills in years gone by, but there’s real optimism that they will pass this year as the government tries to bring public sector benefits in line with the private sector (to overcome a potential recruitment collapse). With Democrats now leading both chambers of Congress and the White House, this year is perhaps the best opportunity for approval.
