this was in the Morning Report on nov. 5
 
by Rebecca Neal
Nov. 4, 2009
Legislators are considering allowing federal employees to deposit the cash value of their unused sick leave and vacation time into their Thrift Savings Plan accounts.
The Internal Revenue Service allows private sector employees to do the same with their 401(k) plans for unused leave that cannot be rolled over. TSP participants can’t do that, however, unless Congress modifies the Federal Employees Retirement System Act, the bill that created the Thrift Savings Plan.
Several TSP improvements, such as automatically enrolling new federal employees in the plan, were included in a tobacco bill Obama signed in June. Chairman Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., said at a Nov. 3 House hearing that it was an oversight to have left out of those legislative improvements a measure that would enable federal employees to deposit their unused leave cash equivalents into their TSP accounts.“Credits for unused sick leave is a great idea … shame on us for not anticipating that and putting it in our bill,” Lynch said, adding that he wants to move on the idea soon.

Sis, does that mean if a person has a year of sick leave that they would get a years pay (about 53K for me) put into their TSP?

/m41858, NO NO NO

never gonna happen

Postalvet: Thanks for posting this info.

"OPM AUTHORITY 2008-072 DURATION JULY 31, 2008 THRU SEPTMEMBER 30, 2010"


Now it is interesting and disappointing how postal management is "managing" this authority. think about this...the USPS is losing billions of dollars a year, the biggest drain or cost is labor costs. We replace the senior employees with lower paid employees when and if they are replaced. Wouldn't it make business sense to open up the VERA every month until the authority expires? So what if only 300 to 500 take it every month....the USPS would still save lots of $$$$. With winter around the corner more and more carriers will take a closer look at it. EAS will leave as well....the pay increases are basically gone unless your a VP the Postmasters are boycotting the VOE so all is not well in EAS land. Which is a good thing if you want to replqace them for a third less cost.

Hopefully our "leaders" have enough knowledge to use this uthority before it expires.

/m41861 Our "leaders" have no brains, never mind knowledge.

/m41861 Lenny: The problem with the Postal Service and VERs, is that they need to be strategically offered. For instance, if the Postal Service came out and said: "We're going to offer 2 more VERs with a $15,000 incentive for clerks." Most clerks would wait until the last one because they'd retire with more service time. It's why the PO will offer a VER and then say: "That's the last of them." If they don't say that, everyone sitting on the fence will stay.

And for those automatically dismissing S/L roll-ins to the TSPs, or added service time, etc., I'd remind you that our "Great Recession" may actually be a depression. The difference is that soup lines have been replace with "food stamp" debit cards. We are at an economic place right now in history, the likes of which, most have never seen. Politicians will deny it, the mainstream media will gloss it over, but postal workers know the score on. We process and deliver it. Given that, I think any and every reasonable possibility will be thrown on the table and discussed, with nothing impossible. If it takes an act of congress to go to 5-day delivery and they do it, then added service time is not an impossibility.

Now I've seen the arguments that adding service time must be a government-wide initiative, but I'd contend that a lot of rules and regulations will be bent or modified in this economic climate to satisfy the needs of an ailing institution, the Postal Service. I will however submit that I find it improbable that added time will be offered as a retirement incentive.

Common sense

Why do you say on one hand that rules will be bent and or modified to help the financial straped Postal Service, by adding years of service, then you go on to say on the other hand you don't thinks its. probable.
Why do you think it is not probable. If they need numbers to leave, then they will to offer more years or waive the 2 % age penalty. Only way I see it would not be probable if the rule can be bent or modified to allow it is that The Postal Service can get the numbers needed without offering added year to offset the 2 % penalty. The only ones that will go for a cash offer will be the ones already elligible to go.

I am conducting a poll:

Who is going bankrupt first:

THE USPS...... OR THE FEDERAL TREASURY????????

Thats an easy one! With the UNFUNDED mandates of social INSECURITY and medicare, the federal treasury will be first to go bankrupt! "obama care" will only make matters much worse!

   I am glad i left, after the boss does a few more safety crossword puzzles and people walk out with eeos and bad backs the timing was perfict.
It would be a first it the po had modern automated lifting shutes rather then people hurting their back every few months.

it took 18 months but if i start to talk about it i still get steamed but recover a lot faster since retiring

yes to each person retirement does different things in different ways.

some sit around and drink themselves to death

some start working out for the first time in years

some get in over their head in debt

some save more by not working

some are happy during retirement

some are unhappy

ONE THING IS CONSTANT...IF YOU ARE MISERABLE AT WORK YOU WILL FIND SOMETHING IN RETIREMENT TO ALSO BE MISERABLE ABOUT...IT'S YOUR NATURE...

IF YOU ALWAYS DO WHAT YOU ALWAYS DID YOU WILL ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU ALWAYS GOT.

I Love retirement...

Thanx Jimbo ....Amen

You will all be miserable once the feds go bankrupt!

12 TRILLION DOLLARS IN DEBT== FEDS DEFAULT ON RETIREMENT FUND

NO MONEY IN TREASURY== NO MONEY IN RETIREMENT FUND!!!!!

You will all be forced to go back to work shortly!

Oh well, enjoy the few months you have left in retirement!