Compliance Stuff

  If the Trump administration doesn’t get the number of resignations it’s hoping for through its “deferred resignation” program, agencies may have to prepare for the administration’s next possible move to reduce the size of the federal workforce: conducting reductions in force (RIFs) . But conducting a RIF is a much lengthier and more complex process than what the Office of Personnel Management is so far attempting to do through its deferred resignation program. The program was initially set to expire Feb. 6, but the offer has since been  put on hold  by a federal judge . In the meantime, federal employees at agencies such as the General Services Administration have been told that a  nonvoluntary RIF  is expected “shortly.” Ron Sanders, a former career federal executive, views the two efforts toward reducing the size of the federal workforce differently — with one being a “blunt instrument” and the other being a “scalpel.” “Reducing head count through separation...

President Donald Trump issued a slew of executive actions on his first day in office, both reviving familiar efforts from his first term and reversing a   number of policies   from the Biden administration. In total, Trump signed more than two dozen executive orders Monday evening, including one that orders a  federal hiring freeze  at agencies. “The President will usher a golden age for America by reforming and improving the government bureaucracy to work for the American people,” White House officials wrote in a  summary of presidential actions  Monday . “He will freeze bureaucrat hiring except in essential areas to end the onslaught of useless and overpaid [diversity, equity and inclusion] activists buried into the federal workforce.” As of noon on Inauguration Day, the order directs agencies not to fill any vacant federal positions or create any new roles. The executive order clarifies, though, that military personnel, as well as employees in immigrati...

  In the federal workforce, older employees are facing a larger gender-based federal pay gap, on average, than younger employees. By some measures, t he federal pay gap between men and women can be about three times larger for feds 40 and over, than feds under 40 years old, a  Jan. 2 report  from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found. “Gender pay gaps are larger for older employees. Over a lifetime, this adds up,” Karen Brummond, a social science research analyst at EEOC’s office of federal operations, said in a  Jan. 2 statement . “A small gender pay gap early in one’s career can multiply into a larger gap over time.” Nationwide, women are paid 16% lower, on average, than men. But in the federal workforce, women are paid 5.6% less, on average, than men, according to 2022 data. Although smaller in comparison to the private sector, a federal pay gap still exists — and the Office of Personnel Management took steps over the past few years to try to close th...

  After eight years in limbo, agencies should now no longer be able to place federal employees on administrative leave indefinitely during personnel investigations. The Office of Personnel Management published a  final rule  this week on the 2016  Administrative Leave Act , capping how long federal employees can remain on administrative investigative leave to 10 days per year. The regulations clarify how agencies should implement the restrictions on paid administrative leave for employees who are under investigation or awaiting a decision on an adverse personnel action. Congress  passed the legislation  as part of the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act after growing concerns about the costs associated with administrative leave, as well as the long time periods agencies were taking to complete personnel investigations. In 2014, the Government Accountability Office estimated that the salaries of federal employees on paid administrative leave were ...

The White House’s lead regulatory office is reviewing a proposed rule that would upgrade the cybersecurity protections required under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) received the proposed rule on Oct. 18. The changes to the HIPAA security rule will “improve cybersecurity in the health care sector by strengthening requirements for HIPAA regulated entities to safeguard electronic protected health information to prevent, detect, contain, mitigate, and recover from cybersecurity threats,” according to a rule  abstract  published by OIRA. OIRA is charge of reviewing major agency rulemakings before they are published. Once the HIPAA updates clear White House review, the Department of Health and Human Services would be able to release the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for public comment. Source(s): Federal News Network , received on October 24, 2024; reginfo (abstract) , accessed on ...