public employees

Maryland Federation of National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association president inducts four new members to the federation's board of directors

Carroll County Chapter, National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, met Oct. 9 at Bullock's Restaurant in Westminster.

Four Carroll countians are among the newest honorees in the Maryland Senior Citizens Hall of Fame, recognized at a banquet Oct. 23 in Glen Burnie.

The people who run the federal government in Washington are whiter, richer, more educated and more liberal than the rest of the country -- which can create a troubling gap between those who govern and those who are governed, according to two Johns Hopkins University political scientists.

Fatalities in the federal workplace climbed last year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, even as the number of workplace deaths in the United States fell.

Officials say cut, made possible by Obamacare, will save $17.3 million a year; unions say plan could hurt retirees

When Jack B. Johnson, the county executive for Prince George's County, was indicted in 2010 on federal charges shortly before pleading guilty to extortion along with witness and evidence tampering, legislators realized local governments needed to be held just as accountable as state employees. Though changes made to the requirements for local governments — including counties, municipalities and school boards — are mandatory, some municipalities in Carroll County have been reluctant

Three members of the Carroll County Chapter, National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association attended the NARFE National Convention, in Florida, as voting delegates for the local chapter.

The officials who are responsible for safeguarding the nation's intelligence secrets are trying to figure out how to better vet millions of employees and contractors with security clearances, after auditors found that some of those workers owed more than three-quarters of a billion dollars in unpaid taxes.

Federal employees will be allowed to carry money on their health savings accounts into the next year following a months-long lobbying effort by Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland and other lawmakers in the region.

I am here for the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association's 33rd Biennial National Convention.

A ruling by a federal judge in a lawsuit filed by federal employees over the government shutdown last fall has given the workers hope that they could soon be eligible for a payout.

The Harford County Council is planning to introduce legislation Tuesday night to raise the salaries of the next county council and county executive.

Maryland officials on Wednesday approved $16 billion in contracts that are intended to change the way state employees use health care by offering rewards for taking steps to stay well — and imposing penalties for refusing to comply.

After more than two years, the Office of Personnel Management released guidelines for phased retirement on Thursday, but not before it missed at least a few people who have already retired or have plans to.

The Coast Guard has rescinded a plan to hire contractors to manage an increased workload at a facility in West Virginia after the American Federation of Government Employees complained that doing so would violate federal law.

The Office of Personnel Management has been working on rules for a phased retirement plan for federal employees for more than two years, and lawmakers are getting anxious.

In a full reversal of existing state healthcare policy, transgender state employees in Maryland can now access gender reassignment surgery, hormone therapy and other transition-related care under their state-provided health insurance plans.

A one-of-a-kind deal between the federal government and a cash-strapped Maryland university was supposed to deliver big benefits for both agencies. But interest so far has been minimal, with only about 300 federal workers nationwide signed up for online courses this summer. Advocates for the new program are not daunted.

The Supreme Court's decision in Harris v. Quinn only dealt with home health care workers in Illinois, but it invited more direct challenge to public sector collective bargaining laws.

The University of Maryland, College Park's football and men's and women's basketball coaches were the state's three highest-paid public employees last year, continuing a long-standing trend.

The Havre de Grace City Council finally passed the city's 2015 budget after reconvening Wednesday night and agreeing to shift some revenue sources and restore two previous planned cuts. The council also agreed to freeze four open positions in city government.

The real lesson of the IRS scandal is the rise of the self-interested bureaucratic class, Jonah Goldberg writes.

The city government is requiring nearly 2,000 school employees to begin contributing to the municipal retirement system, a plan met with resistance by school officials who say the district won't be able to meet the July 1 deadline.

Women who work for the federal government, on the whole, make less than their male co-workers — just as in the private sector.

Want to see what gifts Baltimore's elected officials and government workers have received? You can check out the details online, but first have to make a stop at City Hall to sign up. The city's Ethics Board says the requirement that individuals come in person to sign up is based on a state law.

New workers will be able to chose between "hybrid" plan and 401(k)-style proposal

Thousands of scientists and researchers federal agencies have been hired in recent years under special hiring authority intended to help the government compete with the private sector for senior leadership positions. Government watchdogs warn, however, that officials must use the powers judiciously.

Annapolis Mayor Mike Pantelides, who won office last fall by just 59 votes, has faced criticism on multiple fronts during his first months on the job.

A series of recent federal reports have raised concerns with safety in small field offices scattered across the country, where federal employees at the IRS, Social Security Administration and other agencies are more likely to interact with the public.

Quit complaining: Federal employees don't have it bad compared to workers in the private sector

Maryland's personal income growth was among the smallest nationwide last year as federal budget cuts rippled through the wider region, affecting Virginia and the District of Columbia as well, the U.S. Department of Commerce estimated.

The House of Delegates gave preliminary approval Wednesday to a $38.7 billion budget that trims the governor's plan but still provides raises to state workers and levies no new taxes.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake will unveil a nearly $2.5 billion budget Wednesday that would not cut Baltimore services for the first time since before the recession and would give city employees a cost-of-living raise.

The Rawlings-Blake administration's efforts to slash Baltimore's long-term deficit has run into a bump — more than $100 million in new police, education and other expenses now expected over the next decade.

The Senate gave preliminary approval Wednesday to a $38.9 billion state budget that includes no new taxes while giving state workers a 2 percent cost-of-living raise. It is slightly leaner than the governor proposed.

Federal employment is expected to drop sharply in the span of a decade, government projections show, as budget cuts and retirements begin to reshape the workforce.

Raise or no, federal employees still have it better than many others in the private and public sectors

After a year of sequestration, furloughs and a partial government shutdown, half of the federal workforce is considering leaving for the private sector, a marketing firm has found.

Howard Friedman has heard the chatter, from his own community to Capitol Hill: sometimes questions, sometimes complaints about the federal workforce, its size and its cost.

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake defended her decision to require non-essential Baltimore employees to travel to work Thursday or use their vacation time, saying residents need services in severe weather.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to divert pension savings to the general fund is unfair to workers and potentially harmful to Md.'s fiscal health.

Requiring public employees to help foot the bill for collective bargaining is no breach of constitutional rights

Roughly 54,000 state employees are switching to a cloud-based e-mail and scheduling system provided by tech giant Google — making Maryland the largest state in the nation to rely on the ubiquitous search engine firm for its email, scheduling and document sharing.

Mikulski first bill appropriations chair

Gov. Martin O'Malley brought in $150,000 in 2012, just a fraction of a percent of the more than $2 million each that Terps football coach Randy Edsall and men's basketball coach Mark Turgeon pulled in, according to a salary database.

Hundreds of federal workers who say they were not paid on time during the partial government shutdown are suing for compensation.