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News for the federal workforce, updated daily.
Pay raises, retirement planning, and benefits — expert guidance for every stage of your federal career, sourced and updated for 2026.
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570 articles · page 4 of 24Career
VGLI Premium Holiday: Do You Have to Do Anything for 3 Free Months?
VA waives VGLI premiums November 1, 2026 through January 31, 2027. Who must act, the past-due trap, and what three free months is worth at your age.
Policy Updates
Directed Reassignment: Your Rights and the Line That Decides Severance
Your agency can order the move. Whether refusing costs severance or unlocks early retirement turns on your commuting area and one clause in your position description.
Pay & Compensation
Downgraded: Your Grade Retention Rights and the 20-Year Catch-Up
Downgraded by a RIF? Grade retention holds your pay 2 years, then pay retention freezes it. A GS-13 to GS-11 in DC waits 20 years to be made whole at 2% raises.
Career
Hostile Fire Pay $450, Danger Pay $275: What Changed October 1
Hostile fire pay is $450 a month and imminent danger pay $275 from Oct. 1, department-wide per reporting on the memo. What a deployment gains, and the Dec. 31 sunset.
Retirement
Can I Draw Social Security at 62 While Still Working as a Fed?
Yes, but a GS salary withholds the whole check: $45,796 of withholding on $116,071 in 2026. Where the money goes, when it comes back, and the one year you get paid.
Career
Can You Work a Federal Job on TDIU? It Depends Which 100% You Have
100% schedular P&T has no VA earnings rule. TDIU does, but 12 months of protection plus VA's notice periods usually stand between a GS job and any change. The GS-7 math.
Career
Does VADIP Add Anything If You Already Have Free VA Dental?
Free VA dental, VADIP, or FEDVIP: three doors, one set of teeth. The same $1,500 Delta cap costs $117 to $161 more a year via VADIP. Your spouse may be the one who needs it.
Career
Disabled Veteran Leave: 104 Hours Lost in 12 Months
Disabled Veteran Leave gives 30%+ rated new hires 104 hours in their first federal year. Which date starts the clock, the sick-leave offset, and forfeiture.
Retirement
Did DoD's $40,000 Buyout Expire? What Civilians Get in 2026
DoD's VSIP cap is $25,000, not $40,000. The higher figure expired September 30, 2021. What a Defense civilian actually nets from a 2026 buyout.
Career
Donated Leave: Apply Before Your Own Leave Runs Out
The federal Voluntary Leave Transfer Program approves you on an expected 24-hour shortfall, not a zero balance. The 10-day rule, donor caps, and unused hours.
Career
E-6 or E-7 at 10 to 14 Years: The Real Stay-or-Go Math
Army continuation pay flattened to 2.5x basic pay in 2026, about $11,900 for an E-6. The pension it competes with is worth $460K to $658K at retirement. What leaving costs.
Policy Updates
FEMA Staffing Cut Ruled Unlawful: What Employees Get Now
Judge Illston found DHS's 50% FEMA cut unlawful but ordered no reinstatement yet. What CORE and permanent employees get, and what October 9 really is.
Policy Updates
OPM Shared Certificate Rule: Can Another Agency Hire You?
OPM's shared certificate and pooled hiring rule takes effect October 15, 2026. What changes for applicants, veterans, and current employees, from the rule text.
Policy Updates
Pathways to Schedule Policy/Career: OPM's At-Will Proposal
OPM's Sept. 18 proposed rule would let agencies convert Pathways Interns and Recent Graduates into at-will Schedule Policy/Career jobs. Comments due Nov. 17.
Career
VA Free Hearing Aids: The Benefit Most Veterans Never Claim
VA audiology furnishes hearing aids, fittings, repairs, and batteries at no cost to eligible veterans, no referral needed. Eight ways to qualify.
Policy Updates
GAO Estimates $9.5 Billion Paid to Feds Not Working in 2025
GAO estimates reviewed agencies spent $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave in 2025, six times the 2023 level, $6.7 billion of it tied to the deferred resignation program.
Benefits
FEHB 2027 Premiums Confirmed: Enrollee Share Up 10.9% (Tracker)
Live tracker for FEHB and PSHB 2027: OPM confirms a 10.9% enrollee share increase (8.2% PSHB), Open Season Nov 9 to Dec 14, nine FEHB plans ending, rumors checked.
Career
4-Star General Salary 2026: $228,000, Same as a 2-Star
How much a four-star general makes in 2026: basic pay is capped at Executive Schedule Level II, $18,999.90 a month. O-7 to O-10 pay cap table, the statute, and retired pay.
Retirement
Married After Retiring? 2 Years to Elect or Your Spouse Gets $0
FERS and CSRS retirees who marry after retirement have 2 years to elect a survivor annuity. Miss it and the spouse gets no annuity and, in most cases, no FEHB.
Pay & Compensation
The 2027 Raise Feds Didn't Get: $1,223 to $4,440 by Grade
The pay law's own formula called for a 3.1% raise in 2027 plus a locality catch-up the White House priced at 20.6%. FedTools computed what each GS grade gave up.
Pay & Compensation
Air Traffic Controllers: Where Is the Rest of Your 3.8% Raise
Congress funded a 3.8% controller raise in April; FAA has paid 1%. FedTools computed the withheld 2.8%, about $140 a pay period at $130,000, and what the statute allows.
Retirement
Your FERS Pension Is Rarer Than You Think: Only 9% Have One
Only 9% of private-sector workers have a defined benefit pension, and many are frozen. FedTools priced GS-9, GS-12, and GS-14 FERS pensions two ways: $244K to $1.35M.
Career
Guard/Reserve Military Deposit: What Counts, What Doesn't
Drill weekends don't count, annual training does, Title 32 usually doesn't: the OPM Handbook rules for a Guard or Reserve FERS deposit and which form proves it.
Pay & Compensation
The Real 2027 Federal Pay Cut: 3.4% Inflation, 0% Raise
August CPI is in at 3.4% and the 2027 raise is 0%. FedTools computed the purchasing-power loss for every GS grade in DC and Rest of US, from $923 to $6,523.
What we cover
The topics that matter most to federal employees.Policy Updates
Pay raises, OPM guidance, RIFs, and the legislation that reshapes federal employment.
Retirement Planning
FERS guides, High-3 strategy, the supplement, survivor benefits, and real retirement case studies.
TSP Strategies
Data-backed allocation, contribution timing, and withdrawal news for every investing style.
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