Federal Workers

While hundreds of thousands of federal workers brace for unpaid furloughs starting next month, Uncle Sam is still looking to hire. In one week alone this month, nearly 2,200 job listings available to the public were posted on USAJobs.gov, the federal government's recruiting site. Add in new postings open only to current or former federal workers , including those laid off, and the number of new openings jumps to more than 4,600. "One thing for sure about hiring freezes: They always begin to melt as soon as they are put into place," said Don Kettl, dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy at College Park.

Nearly three dozen workers at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development office in Baltimore - roughly a third of the agency's workforce in Maryland - are being forced to transfer out of state or take a buyout. The choice, which will affect 32 employees at the agency's South Howard Street field office, comes as part of a national reorganization aimed at saving about $45 million a year. The department is consolidating workers in 50 offices nationwide who facilitate the construction and rehabilitation of multifamily housing into 10 offices, HUD spokesman Jerry Brown said Wednesday.

The "average" federal employee salary is nearly $78,500, an amount that has risen by about $1,800 in the past two years despite a general freeze on salary rates, according to the Office of Personnel Management. As of September, OPM reported last week, the average salary for a full-time, permanent, non-seasonal position was $78,467. The comparable figure for December 2010 was $76,701. The latest available median salary is $74,714, up from $69,550 in 2010. Federal employees did not receive the traditional across-the-board January raises in 2011, 2012 or 2013.

Details of financial transactions by members of Congress and thousands of high-level federal workers were supposed to be posted online last month for anyone in the world to see — a key step, supporters of the move said, toward greater transparency in government. What happened instead was President Barack Obama signed a law that once again made the financial information of public employees — useful for identifying insider trading or conflicts of interest — difficult to find.

I am a retired civil servant, logging 36 years of service. Proud of it too! So what is this nonsense about salary freezes being unfair ("200,000 in Md. face U.S. pay freeze," Nov. 30)? When I was on board, we all guessed that we would take a hit any time Washington needed extra cash. It was an unwritten law. We endured this "inconvenience" because we cherished our position in the work force. We got annual and sick leave, paid vacations that were increased over time to weeks, step increases for "good" service, and by God: "Try to fire me!"

After a 45-year career in the private sector, first with Bethlehem Steel, then with Harley Davidson Motor Company and ending with General Motors, I lost wages, medical benefits and pensions when these companies were not making profits. Federal workers have not made any sacrifices that compare to losses in the private sector jobs ("Federal workers rally, underscore their sacrifices," Dec. 6). Most of them retire with 85 percent of their salary and medical benefits that they never paid into.

Thank God for Social Security employee Lindsey Branch who said she would "just tighten a little more" when learning of the federal wage freeze ("200,000 in Md. face U.S. pay freeze," Nov. 30). Compare this to whiner John Gage, who heads the largest federal employee union, stating that the freeze treats federal workers as "sacrificial lambs. " He should check out page one of the Maryland Business section of Tuesday's Baltimore Sun. Jobless benefits ended Tuesday for those still without jobs but needing to care for their families.

WASHINGTON -- Federal employees will receive an e-mail today alerting them that furloughs are possible if Congress fails to reach an agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff, union officials said Thursday. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the human relations arm of the federal government, informed labor leaders of the e-mail in a conference call Wednesday night. Officials stressed that no employment action would likely take place immediately. Maryland is home to about 300,000 federal workers -- roughly 10 percent of the state's civilian workforce -- and several economists have said that the failure to reach an agreement could have a disproportionate effect in the state.

WASHINGTON — As the pitched battle over the nation’s debt crisis shifts to the White House, federal employees in Maryland are bracing for a series of benefit cuts they say would have a devastating effect on the state’s economy. Months after more than 200,000 federal workers in Maryland were hit with a two-year pay freeze to help reduce a $1.3 trillion budget deficit, many say they now are worried lawmakers are eying government retirement plans and health benefits for cuts in the scramble to strike a deal to raise the debt ceiling.

Your Thursday article concerning Social Security workers complaining about pay raises ("Facing the fiscal cliff," Dec. 6) shows how these employees feel entitled because they are federal employees. They fail to realize the private sector is also encountering pay freezes, increases in health insurance and layoffs. Private sector employees do not enjoy the lucrative benefits provided to federal employees. What they do is get a second job to send their kids to college. So stop the whining and get another job if you want more money.

Maryland employers added 4,700 jobs in March, gains driven by the private sector, the U.S. Department of Labor estimated Friday. It was the fourth straight month of increases, though at a lower level than the previous three. The expansion brought Maryland within about 5,000 jobs of finally regaining the number of positions the state had before the effects of the last recession set in - compared with nearly 2.9 million jobs still to go nationwide, more than the country added in all of last year.

Sen. Ben Cardin lamented snowballing damage from federal budget cuts in town hall meetings with federal workers and small-business leaders Friday, pledging to work toward an alternative budget solution by October. But he acknowledged that achieving a compromise between similar budget proposals from the Senate and President Barack Obama and another from the House of Representatives could be a challenge. He spoke to two dozen Howard County business owners and more than 50 employees at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.

The "average" federal employee salary is nearly $78,500, an amount that has risen by about $1,800 in the past two years despite a general freeze on salary rates, according to the Office of Personnel Management. As of September, OPM reported last week, the average salary for a full-time, permanent, non-seasonal position was $78,467. The comparable figure for December 2010 was $76,701. The latest available median salary is $74,714, up from $69,550 in 2010. Federal employees did not receive the traditional across-the-board January raises in 2011, 2012 or 2013.

Labor unions representing federal employees reacted angrily to the $3.8 trillion budget unveiled Wednesday by President Barack Obama, who proposed trimming $20 billion from federal retirement benefits - reopening a debate many Democrats felt had been resolved last year. The 2014 spending plan - which arrived months late - would reduce annual budget deficits by an additional $1 trillion over a decade, according to the administration's estimates; raise the federal minimum wage to $9; curb Social Security spending; increase the federal cigarette tax and close tax loopholes the Obama administration has pursued for years without success.

As thousands of federal workers prepare to be furloughed, many are concerned about how to deal with a pay cut. Keith Everett, a chief steward with the American Federation of Government Employees, said his union held two meetings in recent weeks at Fort Meade for workers, many of whom had the same financial questions: Can I apply for unemployment benefits? Will I receive back pay if lawmakers eventually reach some agreement on budget cuts? The answers: No and no. "Everyone is hoping [lawmakers]

While hundreds of thousands of federal workers brace for unpaid furloughs starting next month, Uncle Sam is still looking to hire. In one week alone this month, nearly 2,200 job listings available to the public were posted on USAJobs.gov, the federal government's recruiting site. Add in new postings open only to current or former federal workers , including those laid off, and the number of new openings jumps to more than 4,600. "One thing for sure about hiring freezes: They always begin to melt as soon as they are put into place," said Don Kettl, dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy at College Park.

As the president and the speaker of the House intensified their debate over raising the nation's $14.3 trillion debt ceiling Monday night, the real world impact was reflected among Maryland federal workers like Jacqueline Hamilton. After 44 years of working for the Social Security Administration, Hamilton is understandably concerned about cuts that may be coming to the federal work force. But she's also worried about senior citizens and the disabled who rely on Social Security to make ends meet.

Federal employees will be required to contribute $15 billion toward the cost of extending federal unemployment insurance under a tentative agreement struck in Congress that would also maintain the 2010 payroll tax break, federal worker union officials said Wednesday. The deal, which lawmakers have cautioned is still tentative, would require employees to contribute an additional eight tenths of one percent to their retirement funds. The money generated from that provision would cover roughly half of the $30 billion cost of extending long-term unemployment benefits.

The editorial in the Catonsville Times, published March 6, "Sequestration — a political game with real pain") contains these misleading statements: • "Federal government workers and contractors wait nervously to see what these automatic spending cuts will mean in job furloughs and program trims. " • "Spending cuts of $85 billion are the stakes in this cynical game. " • "The cuts are expected to lead to long lines at airports, furloughs of federal workers, reduced access to Head Start programs for young students and reductions in food inspection and border security.

After bumping our heads on the debt ceiling, then teetering on the fiscal cliff, we are now threatened with something called sequestration. Had anyone even heard that word before a few months ago? Can anyone define it? Around these parts, it's all too real. Federal government workers and contractors wait nervously to see what these automatic spending cuts will mean in job furloughs and program trims. In Howard and Baltimore counties alone, tens of thousands of families owe their paycheck to the government.