Tag Archives: Federal Workers

Congressional Democrats Push for US Apology To “Hundreds Of Thousands” Fired LGBT Federal Workers

Congressional Democrats Push for US Apology To “Hundreds Of Thousands” Fired LGBT Federal Workers

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Vis NBC News reports:

LGBT civil servants and service members were systematically fired or forced to resign due to their sexual orientation or gender identity over the past seven decades, and a proposed bill is seeking to have the federal government issue an official apology acknowledging its past discriminatory policies.

The bill, introduced Thursday by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., says the federal government “discriminated against and terminated hundreds of thousands” of LGBTQ people who served in the armed forces, the foreign service and the federal civil service for decades, “causing untold harm to those individuals professionally, financially, socially, and medically, among other harms.”

Kaine and Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., the country’s first openly gay U.S. senator, led the introduction of the resolution. The document is co-sponsored by Democratic Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), among others.

Learn more about LGBT federal worker persecution:

Gay History – April 17, 1965: Frank Kameny Leads The First Gay & Lesbian Protest At The White House

Gay History – March 1950: The Lavender Scare – McCarthy and Cohn Hunt Homosexuals in the Federal Government

Justice Department Ordered to Release 1950’s Gay ‘Purge’ Lavender Scare Documents

LEARN YOUR HISTORY! – April 27, 1953: President Eisenhower Signs Executive Order Banning Homosexuals From Working for the Federal Government

Rally to Stop the Government Shutdown and Pay Federal Workers Thursday 1/10/2019 in Washington, DC

Rally to Stop the Government Shutdown and Pay Federal Workers Thursday 1/10/2019 in Washington, DC

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As many of you know I am an furloughed Federal Worker because of the shutdown. If you live in the DC Area PLEASE try to attend this rally to STOP THE SHUTDOWN AND PAY FEDERAL WORKERS and help support us. Not sure if I can make it because it will cost too much and as you know I am not being paid at this time.. But PLEASE try to attend and represent me and others if you can.

Thank you.
Will Kohler

********************************

NTEU and other federal employee unions are conducting a rally to end the shutdown this Thursday, Jan. 10.

This shutdown has gone on too long. You and 800,000 federal employees are hurting and it is time to raise our voices and say “No More”. We need to send a message to Congress and the administration that a shutdown hurts American families and halts vital services for the public.

Join National President Tony Reardon, congressional leaders, other labor leaders, NTEU members and federal employees from across government to publicly call for an end to the shutdown, demand that federal employees be paid promptly, and that the federal workforce be given a pay raise this year.

Rally Details
Noon to 1 pm
Thursday (Jan. 10)
AFL-CIO Headquarters
815 16th St NW
Washington, D.C.

Nearest Metro stations are McPherson Square (Blue, Orange and Silver lines) and Farragut North (Red line).

Protest 11 GIF from Doctor GIFs
“They started telling me about the incident, a shooting... And then I go on to find out it’s a gay bar. I got scared, ‘Shit, is he gay?’ And he’s not gay, so I said, phew… I am a conservative Republican.”

Trump Administration and OPM Suggests Shutdown Affected Federal Workers Do Odd Jobs for Landlords In Lieu of Rent

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The Office of Personnel Management tweeted advice to furloughed federal workers who are not getting paid during the shutdown on how to explain their situation to creditors and landlords—including one sample letter with the suggestion that they offer to perform chores in exchange for rent payments .

USA Today reports:

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management has offered federal workers affected by the partial government shutdown a guide for negotiating with creditors, landlords and mortgage companies while their income is cut off.

The Thursday tweet notes that workers should consult with a “personal attorney” for advice but offers templates for how one might seek financial assistance for various financial obligations.

Among the suggested strategies: A furloughed employee might offer to trade maintenance services such as painting or carpentry work in exchange for a reduction in rent.

Here is the link to the he U.S. Office of Personnel Management resource center, which includes the template letters for creditors and financial institutions .

*Sample Letter to Landlord


Dear (Name of Company or individual with whom you have spoken)

This is to confirm our conversation of (date) in which we discussed a temporary reduction in my monthly rent.

As we discussed, I am a Federal employee who has recently been furloughed due to a lack of funding of my agency. Because of this, my income has been severely cut and I am unable to pay the entire cost of my rent, along with my other expenses. ·

As we had agreed in our conversation, I will be able to make regular payments in the amount of $_______. I realize that I will be responsible to pay the remainder of the payments and, when I return to work, I will contact you immediately to work out a plan to take care of the reduced payments. I will keep in touch with you to keep you informed about my income status and I would like to discuss with you the possibility of trading my services to perform maintenance (e.g. painting, carpentry work) in exchange for partial rent payments.

I appreciate your willingness to work with me and your understanding during this difficult time.

Sincerely,

(Name)

Address

Telephone Number

Trump Attempts To Freeze Federal Workers 2019 Pay Raise Citing "Economic Emergency"

Trump Attempts To Freeze Federal Workers 2019 Pay Raise Citing “Economic Emergency”

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Despite the fact that Donald Trump was able to find $2.5 trillion for his budget-busting tax cut for the rich, but now suddenly he can’t pay federal employees.

Via CNBC:

President Donald Trump said Thursday that civilian employees of the federal government will not receive raises in 2019. In doing away with the 2.1 percent across-the-board pay increase that was scheduled to take effect in January, Trump said he was working “put our Nation on a fiscally sustainable course.” Scrapping the raises will save more than $25 billion, Trump said.

“I have determined that for 2019, both across the board pay increases and locality pay increases will be set at zero,” the president said in a letter addressed to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-WI, and released by the White House. “These alternative pay plan decisions will not materially affect our ability to attract and retain a well qualified Federal workforce.”

Under current law, the Federal Employees Pay Comparability Act, absent congressional action to establish a pay raise, the annual, across-the-board pay raise for most federal employee is set using a formula tied to the Department of Labor’s Employment Cost Index (ECI), which measures the rise in private sector pay. Under the formula prescribed under this law, the ECI figure minus a half percent, the across-the-board pay increase should be 2.1 percent. However, this same law also provides the President with the ability to set a different pay raise amount, which is required to be transmitted to Congress by September 1st of the preceding calendar year. Today’s action formalizes the White House’s planned January 2019 pay freeze as originally proposed earlier this year in the administration’s FY19 budget request to Congress.

It is still possible that Congress could act to provide a pay raise. As of now, though overall FY19 congressional appropriations work remains incomplete as we near the start of the new FY on October 1st, the Senate has passed an appropriations measure to provide on average a 1.9 percent pay raise amount in January. Specifically, the Senate-passed FY19 Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill would provide a 1.4 percent across-the-board raise for employees covered by the General Schedule, and increase the various locality pay rates by 0.5 percent. Language has also been included to ensure that wage grade employees receive the same pay raise that is ultimately provided to employees covered by the General Schedule.

Trump said in his letter to Congress that “I view the increases that would otherwise take effect as inappropriate.”

Over the past 5 years Federal workers pay have only been raised 5%.

200 Congressional Democrats Call On Obama To Issue LGBT Federal Workers’ Executive Order‏

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ENDAOver 200 Congressional and House Democrats have joined together and are sending a letter to President Obama calling on him to sign an executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT workers.

The move comes as the White House keeps maintaining that Obama’s preferred path is passage of Employment Non-Discrimination Act into law is through Congress rather than signing the executive order and the LGBT community continues to push for the executive order in the wake of last fall’s Senate passage of the ENDA, which is now stuck in the GOP controlled House and is likely to go nowhere.

The bill that would ban most private employers who have Government contracts from anti-LGBT discrimination.

The nearly 200 congressional Democrats write, “We are committed to doing all that we can in Congress to get ENDA to your desk this year; however, there is no reason you cannot immediately act by taking this important step.”

The effort was led by Sen. Jeff Merkley and Rep. Jared Polis, with support from Sens. Tom Harkin and Tammy Baldwin and Reps. Michael Michaud, David Cicilline, Sean Patrick Maloney, Mark Pocan, Kyrsten Sinema, Mark Takano, Frank Pallone, Lois Capps, Diana DeGette, Joe Garcia, Raul Grijalva, Mike Honda, Barbara Lee, Jerrold Nadler, and Adam Schiff.

The proposed order follows Obama’s agreement in a 2008 candidate questionnaire that, if elected president, he would support a nondiscrimination policy for LGBT employees of federal contractors. Advocates and lawmakers have been pressing Obama to model the policy off an existing executive order, Executive Order 11246, that bans federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.


SIGN THE DAMN E.O. ALREADY!

Legislation Introduced To Give Gay and Lesbian Federal Workers Full Benefits … Again.

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On Friday, Sen. Joe. Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) on Friday reintroduced the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act which would extend FULL domestic benefits to the partners of gay federal employees.

The Bill would make the same-sex partners of federal employees eligible for federal health benefits, long-term care, Family and Medical Leave and federal retirement benefits.

The Bill, if passed would finally fill the void of  inequalities that gay and lesbian Federal workers deal with everyday.

 The orders issued by President Obama in 2009,  so that some gay and lesbian Federal Employee’s might be eligible for   the federal government’s long term care program, (which is NOT health insurance) and same-sex partners of State Department employees can apply for overseas relocation-related benefits  only affected and exremely miniscule percentage of gay and lesbian Federal workers and while the Obama Administration touted it as an achievement, it fell far short of making any difference or evening the field.

“We want to attract the best men and women possible to serve in federal government,” Lieberman said in a statement. “One way to do that is by offering competitive benefits to the family members of gay federal employees.”

Collins agreed, saying, “The federal government must compete with the private sector when it comes to attracting the most qualified, skilled, and dedicated employees. Today, health, medical, and other benefits are a major component of any competitive employment package.”

But with federal government being  barred from recognizing same-sex marriages under the Defense of Marriage Act, the current goverment budget crisis, and the Republican controlled House one needs to wonder if this Bill will have to be re-introduced a fourth time after 2012.

Let’s hope not.