Office of Personnel Management September 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given that the October 15, 2020, meeting of the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee previously announced in the Federal Register on Monday, December 23, 2019, is being changed to a virtual meeting via teleconference.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is adopting its proposed rule to revise the table of reduction factors for early commencing dates of survivor annuities for spouses of separated employees who die before the date on which they would be eligible for unreduced deferred annuities, and to revise the annuity factor for spouses of deceased employees who die in service when those spouses elect to receive the basic employee death benefit in 36 installments under the Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS) Act of 1986. These rules are necessary to ensure that the tables conform to the economic and demographic assumptions adopted by the Board of Actuaries and published in the Federal Register on April 6, 2020, as required by the United States Code.

The Federal Salary Council will meet via teleconference on Wednesday, October 21, 2020, at the time shown below. There will be no in-person gathering for this meeting. The Council is an advisory body composed of representatives of Federal employee organizations and experts in the fields of labor relations and pay policy. The Council makes recommendations to the President's Pay Agent (the Secretary of Labor and the Directors of the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management) about the locality pay program for General Schedule employees under Sec. 5304 of title 5, United States Code. The Council's recommendations cover the establishment or modification of locality pay areas, the coverage of salary surveys, the process of comparing Federal and non-Federal rates of pay, and the level of comparability payments that should be paid. The Council will hear public testimony about the locality pay program, review the results of pay comparisons, and formulate its recommendations to the President's Pay Agent on pay comparison methods, locality pay rates, and locality pay areas and boundaries for 2022. This meeting is open to the public, with an audio option for listening. Individuals who wish to provide testimony or present material at the meeting should contact the Office of Personnel Management using the email address provided below. In addition, please be aware that the Council asks that oral testimony at the meeting be limited to 5 minutes per speaker.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing proposed regulations governing the appointment and employment of administrative law judges (ALJs). The proposed rule will implement Executive Order (E.O.) 13843 titled ``Excepting Administrative Law Judges from the Competitive Service.'' These proposed revisions update the rules for ALJ hiring in light of the new Schedule E of the excepted service for ALJs and update the existing ALJ employment regulations to reflect other recent changes in the law.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is proposing rules that would allow agencies to make term appointments in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) occupations; positions needed to stand-up, operate, and close-out time-limited organizations which have a specific statutory appropriation; and time-limited projects which have been funded through specific appropriation; for up to 10 years. OPM is proposing this rule to provide agencies with greater flexibility to staff foreseeably long-term projects of a STEM nature when the need for the work is not permanent, and other time- limited work when authorized by specific funding by Congress. The intended effect of this change is to allow agencies the flexibility and discretion to hire individuals with knowledge, skills and abilities tailored to a specific project or Congressional funded work that may not be required on a permanent basis or transferable to other functions of the agency. This longer term appointment may also assist agencies in recruiting individuals with specialized STEM knowledge who prefer the opportunity to work on a project-by-project basis to build their resumes and maintain current skills.

The Retirement Services, Office of Personnel Management (OPM) offers the general public and other federal agencies the opportunity to comment on a revised information collection request (ICR), Verification of Adult Student Enrollment Status, RI 25-49.

The Retirement Services, Office of Personnel Management (OPM) offers the general public and other Federal agencies the opportunity to comment on a revised information collection (ICR), Initial Certification of Full-Time School Attendance, RI 25-41.

According to the provisions of section 10 of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463), notice is hereby given that the September 17, 2020, meeting of the Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee previously announced in the Federal Register on Monday, December 23, 2019, at 84 FR 70580, is being changed to a virtual meeting via teleconference. There will be no in-person gathering for this meeting. This meeting will be open to the public, with an audio option for listening. This notice sets forth the agenda for the meeting and the participation guidelines.