PURPOSE & OBJECTIVE

The purpose and objective of the F.E.A., which is owned by its members and operated by current and former government employees is to promote the social and financial welfare of all government employees. We strive to improve the “IMAGE” of the government employee both locally and nationally by supporting governmental and community projects and programs. We publish and distribute a national newspaper, the “F.E.A. Eagle” which contains articles and newsworthy items that reflect the professionalism of the government worker and his/her contributions toward accomplishment of the function of the respective government agency.    We are currently in support of OPM's Retirement Financial Literacy and Education Program (RFLEP)   
      
                                  From the Federal Daily www.FederalDaily.com                              

Postal Service suspends FERS pension fund payments

"The U.S. Postal Service says it will suspend the employer’s contributions to the defined benefit portion of the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS).

With a $6.9 billion surplus in the Postal Service’s FERS account, the suspension will not affect employees or retirees, according to postal officials.

“The Postal Service believes there will be no impact on employees. Also, the action will have no impact on current retirees,” said David A. Partenheimer, a Postal Service spokesperson.

The Postal Service will continue to send employees’ FERS contributions to the Office of Personnel Management and also “will continue to transmit employer automatic and matching contributions and employee contributions to the Thrift Savings Plan,” said Anthony Vegliante, chief human resources officer and executive vice president of USPS.

The suspension of payments, which will save about $800 million this fiscal year, takes effect on Friday. USPS sends $115 million to OPM every other week for the FERS annuity.

Suspending the FERS payments is part of the Postal Service’s cash conservation plan. USPS is projected to lose $8.3 billion by the close of its fiscal year at the end of September.

“The Postal Service continues to cut costs significantly with initiatives to reduce the size of its labor force, the number of mail processing facilities and administrative overhead,” according to a statement from USPS. “Over the last four fiscal years, the Postal Service has reduced its size by 110,000 career positions and saved $12 billion in costs.”

Postal officials also are pushing Congress to eliminate the current mandate requiring USPS to pre-pay retiree health benefits and to allow Postal Service overpayments to the Civil Service Retirement System and FERS to be used for the health benefit fund. Officials have also pressed Congress to permit USPS to determine the frequency of mail delivery, which likely would mean delivery five days a week, instead of six."

                                 From the Federal Daily www.FederalDaily.com                              

Earlier Retirements Tailing Off

If the careers of older feds track what’s happening in the overall U.S. workforce, the predicted wave of agency retirements could be less than expected.

According to recently released report by the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire, the proportion of older Americans working for pay has been growing in the past decade after years of decline. For example, 17 percent of men and 9 percent of women age 65 and over were in the labor force in 1995, but by 2009, that had increased to 22 percent of men and 13 percent of women, the study said.

The study found that workers with college degrees, men, and divorced urban women are more likely to work past traditional retirement age, and that women with college degrees have shown the most rapid increase in working at older ages—22 percent were working in 2009, up from 14 percent in 1995.

The study noted that a lot of these older workers work on a part-time basis, but nearly half of working men and more than one-third of working women 65 and over work full-time, year-round.

It’s not clear whether this trend is temporary, or a reversal of the decades-long decline in work at older ages. Labor force participation changed significantly in latter part of 20th Century. The participation rates of men age 70 and over fell from 21 percent in 1963 to 11 percent in 1990. The rate for women age 70 and older decreased from 5.9 percent in 1963 to 4.7 percent in 1990, the report said.

To see more, go to:
 www.carseyinstitute.unh.edu/publications/IB_Shattuck
_Older_Workers.pdf.