FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2010


KLMNO


EZ SU THE FEDERAL WORKER WHATYOUSAID Q.


Since federal retirement payments are based on the three highest years of an employee’s pay, howwill the


two-year pay freeze that President Obama has proposed for federal workers affect your retirement plans?


AconcernedFederalemployee, Departmentof Transportation Itwill affectpeoplewhowill


retire inthree years, because for two years youhavenohighthree pay. Someworkerswillnothave promotions orwithingrade increases.Therefore your monthly retirement annunitywill be affected.Thispay freezedoes nothing for the lower gradesGS-1 throughGS-8.


FrankC.Askins DeputyDirectorCyber Security NavalReactors It’shelpedmemakemy


decisionaboutwhether ornot to retirenext year. I’mat step10for my current grade andnopay raise for thenext two years andno guarantee theywon’t extendit beyondthat,means I’vepretty muchachievedmy 3 yearhigh- pay for retirementpurposes. Besides, I caneasily get a job in the contractorworldmaking moremoneydoing the same thing. It’s ano-brainer!


JamesM.Snyder Jr. Deputy ProgramManager, Surface Acquisitions Commandant (CG-932),D.C. Ihadalready beenplanning to


retire on31Dec 2010after 34+ years infederal service,prior to announcement of the freeze. However, it just reaffirmedmy decisionthatnowwas the time to go.Withotherdiscussions emanating fromtheDeficit Commissionthat centeredon cutting back onretiree benefits, thatwas additional incentive to kick the bucketnow, especially if therewas apotential tomake cuts retro-active back to 1 Jan2011. Ihave already foundapositionin private industry. I feel very blessedtohave beena civil servant, andtohave the opportunity to continue to contribute,whenI knowthat a lot of the rest of the country is struggling to just keepa job or findone.


InternalRevenueService Illinois I amunder the oldCSRS


retirement system, the two/three yearpay freezewilldefinitelyhave animpact onmy retirement; money thatwillneverbe recouped. I amstruggling as it is withincreases everywhere you turn, andthennot to receive a COLAto at leasthelpinsome smallway reallyhurts. 2011 medicalpremiumswill increase by 7percent andthere’s talkof cutting thepublic transportation subsidies inhalf, thatmeansmy paycheckwillbe less, andeven less the following year. I live in CookCounty, Ill., andthe increasedproperty taxes are enoughto sinkme as it is.ThenI readinthepaperwhereCook County laidoffnumerousOak ForestHospital employees, then recently gave currenthigher-up employeesmaking$80,000+ raises of$25,000+! . . .Mymorale has sunkto anewlow.


BarryB.Copeland,CPA Space Act Agreement (SAA) Specialist NASA, Johnson SpaceCenter Simplyput – Imayhave to


work anadditional 2 years because Iwant ahigher retirementpay.Thisprobablywill not save the governmentmoney butwill, infact, cost the governmentmoney because peoplewillwork longer, therewill be ahiring freeze andyoung talent,whichwenowso desperatelyneed–will go elsewhere. Simplyput.


KAREN BLEIER/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE VIA GETTY IMAGES


Daniel Ellsberg, center, who released the Pentagon Papers, joins a war protest with other veterans in Lafayette Square on Thursday.He and several others were arrested for not dispersing. Before the rally, he defended WikiLeaks founder JulianAssange and the Army private suspected of providing theWeb site with government documents.


Ellsberg speaks out at veterans’ rally against war


B3


Pay freeze could heat things up at the exits


FEDERAL DIARY Joe Davidson


year pay freeze President Obama asked Congress to impose on federal workers is the impact it may have on higher income employees and those eligible to retire. The freeze could be the push


A


they need to say good-bye to Uncle Sam and take their talents elsewhere. “There’s already a lot of pay compression at the top of the pay scale,” saidMax Stier, president and chief executive of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit organization that focuses on federal workforce issues. Their income level may sound


good, he added, “but a lot of those people have alternatives that pay a lot more.” (The Washington Post and the partnership have a content- sharing relationship.) Even those who contend, often misleadingly, that federal employees are overpaid must admit that highly trained, highly skilled federal workers—the doctors, lawyers, scientists and others—could command much greater money in the private sector.


Another consequence of the


freeze on some better paid civil servants could be an aversion to upward mobility. Employee association leaders warn that the pay freeze could discourage high- level General Schedule workers, those in grades GS14 and 15, from seeking senior-level positions. “Yes, the freeze will discourage


15s,” said Carol A. Bonosaro, president of the Senior


Max Stier, president and chief executive of the Partnership for Public Service.


There is confusion on how the


freeze would apply to SES performance awards, according to one reader, who said some agency personnel offices are telling employees the freeze blocks SES performance awards, even for those below the cap. The Office ofManagement


and Budget said “SES employees will continue to be eligible for lump-sum performance awards,” but not those that increase base pay. The effect of the freeze on


federal executives is important because so many of them are near retirement age. “About 90 percent of federal executives will be eligible for retirement over the next 10 years, and the percentage of federal executives currently eligible for retirement has reached 50 percent of the


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earlier than they had planned because of the way retirement payments are calculated. They are based on an employee’s three highest paid years, generally the last three. “In some cases your salary


today will be your high salary and a two year freeze will make the average whatever the number is now,” Burger said. “Seventy-five thousand dollars now, frozen for two more years, means the average is still


ctions have consequences. One unintended consequence of the two-


Executives Association. “We know they’re discouraged already from our survey of 14s and 15s. While they didn’t choose pay as the top detractor (to seeking senior positions), one- third wrote comments which specifically mentioned pay.” The increased responsibility of senior-level employees and the less-stringent job protection available to them, coupled with the freeze could make it “not worth it,” Bonosaro added. Salaries for Senior Executive


Service members are set within broad national ranges, with individual pay varying according to qualifications and performance, up to a cap that for most this year is $179,700.


corps in some agencies,” according to a report by the Senior Executives Association and Avue Technologies. “Unresolved challenges in attracting the best and the brightest to these positions would leave a serious leadership vacuum at the top of the civil service.” The pay freeze certainly presents another challenge. “It pretty much takes away any incentive” for GS15s to seek senior-level positions, said Tom Burger, executive director of the ProfessionalManagers Association, whose members are largely Internal Revenue Service managers. The freeze could encourage older federal workers to retire


The effect of the freeze on federal executives is important because so many of them are near retirement age.


$75,000.” Despite these misgivings,


Moira K.Mack, anOMB spokeswoman, said the office is “confident that we’ll continue to be able to retain and motivate the strong federal management group we need to drive performance and make government work more efficiently and effectively for the American people.”


Contractors, too Federal employees aren’t the


only people who do work for the federal government who could be affected by efforts to balance the nation’s books. Federal contractors may be too. At least that will be the recommendation when the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform issues its full report. When the commission, led by Alan K. Simpson and Erskine Bowles, issued what was called its final report earlier this month, it made no mention of cutting contractor expenses, as did an earlier draft document. But that was misleading. It


turns out the final report was not the complete report. Explains commission


spokesman Frederick J.Baldassaro: “The commission’s final illustrative list of savings has yet to be published, but when it is, it will closely mirror the recommendations attached in the co-chairs’ draft proposal released onNovember 10, which included options to reduce the size of the federal workforce and to cut the number of federal contractors.” The draft called for


eliminating 250,000 non-defense contractors and 4 percent of defense-related contracting positions.


federaldiary@washpost.com


The Fed Page After Holbrooke


Some at the State Department fear the loss could be compounded, if Afghanistan and Pakistan experts loyal to the diplomat look for work elsewhere. In the Loop, A31


Detailed analysis The Obama administration issues plans for solar development on public lands in the West. A31


Answer time Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) was asked about Social Security. See what he had to say. A31


Online federal benefits calculators


l Retirement benefits: www.opm.gov/retire/tools/calculators/ ballpark/menu.asp This calculator projects retirement benefits under federal retirement systems. It also has links for calculating how much of an annuity will be tax-free and how much tax to have withheld.


l Social Security: www.ssa. gov/planners/calculators.htm This site features a Social Security benefit estimator for those who will be eligible under that system, which includes most current federal employees. It also has links to other calculators.


l Thrift Savings Plan: www.tsp. gov/calc This site has calculators allowing participants in the 401)k)-style retirement savings program to project future account balances; based on differing investment levels and rates of return; to determine loan payments if they borrow against their accounts; and to see how an account balance would translate into income after separation, among various other functions.


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