Postal Workers get a pay bump – Plus the DorobekINSIDER’s 7 Stories

On GovLoop Insights’ DorobekINSIDER:

• We are rapidly approaching the end of the fiscal year and that means one thing for employees: performance review time. Ugh, the dreaded performance review, they are the bane of existence for employees and managers alike. But there are ways to make performance reviews less painful for everyone involved. Insights from the Partnership for Public Service.

The SEVEN stories that impact your life:

1. Almost 230,000 unionized U.S. Postal Service workers will receive a $937 annual cost-of-living adjustment next month, reports Federal Times. The increase, covering about 162,000 employees represented by the American Postal Workers Union and another 66,000 represented by the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, takes effect Sept. 7.

2. The IRS is not appropriately managing software licenses for its computer systems, according to a report released Tuesday by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). Federal Times reports, the IRS has failed to establish agency-wide or local policies for license management, and does not have tools to track or manage licenses or detect inactive licenses, according to TIGTA.

3. A petition signed by a reported 26,000 veterans and sent to the White House on Tuesday calls for President Obama to fire Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, saying a change of leadership is needed to eliminate the lengthy backlog of veterans awaiting action on their disability claims, reports the Washington Post.

4. President Barack Obama chided the Securities and Exchange Commission for slow implementation of new financial laws. He spoke to an agency with lots of holes in its leadership. The Wall Street Journal has found the SEC is plagued with executive turnover. Chairman Mary Jo White is the third boss in nine months. Three of five commissioners have left since December. In the past year, four of the agency’s five divisional chiefs have stepped down. Since June, four regional directors and enforcement chiefs have left. They had a combined 103 years of experience. An insider tells the Journal, employees are worn down by the turnover and hectoring by Congress.

5. The National Security Agency can track 75 percent of Americans’ Internet communications as it hunts for foreign threats. The Wall Street Journal reports, the NSA also keeps the content of some emails between U.S. citizens and filters domestic phone calls made over the Internet. The agency has limited authority to spy on Americans. Officials tell the Journal the NSA discards much of the data that does not involve foreigners.

6. A military judge has sentenced Army Pvt. Bradley Manning for leaking classified information to the web site WikiLeaks. Prosecutors want Manning to spend 60 years in prison for violating the Espionage Act and other laws. Manning’s defense attorneys are hoping for 25 years.

7. The Pentagon says same-sex spouses of service-members can line up for official identification cards beginning Sept. 3. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen says service members will have to show a valid marriage certificate from a state or country that recognizes same-sex marriages. TRICARE also opens to same-sex spouses that day. Christensen says other benefits, including allowances for basic housing and family separation, are retroactive from the date of the Supreme Court’s decision on the Defense of Marriage Act, June 26.

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