Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD) praised passage of key provisions included in the FY2010 DOD Authorization bill that will significantly improve federal employee personnel policies. Rep. Hoyer, who represents more than 55,000 federal employees, worked to include the provisions in the final bill. The legislation will next be considered by the Senate before going to the President’s desk. 

“When it comes to fair treatment for our federal employees, the conference report includes two important provisions that I worked hard to see were included,” stated Congressman Hoyer. 

Among the included changes is the termination of the National Security Personnel System at the Department of Defense, returning all DOD employees to the more fair General Schedule pay scale. Another provision modifies the Federal Employees Retirement System to allow retiring employees with accumulated unused sick leave to apply this leave toward length of service for purposes of computing their retirement annuities. 

“The bill ends the Bush-era NSPS, which has served as a vehicle to arbitrarily control compensation rather than determine employee pay based on merit,” said Hoyer. “It also gives retiring federal employees the option to credit unused sick days toward their pensions, instead of taking months of sick leave at the end of their careers, which is a waste for them and for taxpayers.” 

“Altogether these improvements will bolster the morale of the current workforce and strengthen federal government’s ability to attract and retain the high-quality workforce required to meet our national challenges,” concluded Hoyer.