Bill Aims to Fix Discrepancy in Retirees' Sick Leave Credit

A long-standing gripe among civil servants who joined the government in 1987 or after is they cannot count unused sick leave days toward time worked when determining their retirement annuity.

Workers in the Federal Employees Retirement System feel they are cheated under the "use it or lose it policy" because their colleagues under the Civil Service Retirement System can credit unused sick leave toward retirement.

Now the FERS employees see relief on the horizon.

Northern Virginia Reps. James P. Moran Jr. (D) and Frank R. Wolf (R) introduced a bill this week that would allow FERS workers to convert sick leave just like CSRS employees, who joined the government before 1987.

"This bipartisan legislation will correct a long-standing inequity between the two federal retirement programs," Wolf said. "It also will increase efficiency by cutting down on use of sick leave prior to an employee's retirement, which has cost taxpayers $68 million each year."

Taxpayers get hit when Uncle Sam's productivity drops as FERS employees nearing retirement call in sick to use up their leave before they quit. If those days were credited toward retirement, there would be an incentive to conserve, rather than use, sick time.

A Congressional Research Service study found that "nearly 85 percent of CSRS employees and retirees said they would or did conserve as much sick leave as possible, [while] more than 75 percent of FERS employees and retirees said they planned to use as much sick leave as possible during their last year before retirement."

Employee groups, of course, eagerly support this legislation. Moran released a list of 16 that do.

"Our federal workforce is the best in the world," he said. "They deserve a benefit designed to reward, not punish, those who play by the rules."

VA Cracks Down on Contractors

It's the kind of incident that makes federal union leaders howl about the government's reliance on outside contractors.

The Department of Veterans Affairs said yesterday that one of its contractors had been a bit sloppy with medical information. The company provides medical transcription services, but it did not comply with the VA's standards for information technology security.

Fortunately, there is no evidence that patient information was disclosed, according to an agency statement.

"VA insists that contractors, as well as our own personnel, adhere to the highest standards for protecting personal information," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. "When we detect a problem, as happened in this case, we will quickly fix it, and we will ensure such problems are not happening elsewhere."

The contract workers create written transcripts of recorded comments made by health-care professionals examining patients, discussing surgeries or taking health histories. The contractor, who was not identified, did not use computers that meet government security standards.

A VA statement said Shinseki had "launched an intensive examination of all VA's contracts to ensure all contractors properly safeguard information about VA patients, Veterans and employees."

SBA Settles With Workers

The Small Business Administration will pay $7.6 million to current and former employees who were not compensated properly under the Fair Labor Standards Act, according to Michael J. Snider, a Baltimore lawyer for the American Federation of Government Employees Council 228.

Snider said 1,200 workers would split the payment, minus legal fees, of course. "This settlement will ensure that the agency will comply with the regulations," he said, "and will protect both current and future SBA employees."

The settlement followed a grievance and arbitration action brought by the union, which said hundreds of employees were wrongly classified as exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act. Because of that, the employees were denied a choice between comp time and overtime. They also were not properly compensated for such things as travel time and working through lunch.

The SBA had no comment.

Indian Affairs Plans Layoffs

The Bureau of Indian Affairs will soon lay off staff members, but it's not clear how many. The bureau said the furloughs include nine road maintenance workers. Three teachers and 40 support staff workers at four Bureau of Indian Education schools will also be furloughed because of declining enrollment.

The layoffs begin tomorrow and will continue through April 10, according to BIA spokeswoman Nedra Darling.

But the administrator of the Federation of Indian Service Employees said the agency sent it notices that indicate about 200 workers would be laid off.

No school employees should be laid off, said Michael Jennings, the administrator, because a largely unused contingency fund is available. Darling said that money cannot be used to prevent layoffs of teachers and support staff.