Federal medical benefits: we have the choice of several plans. I buy the Blue Cross plan. I costs me about $550/month for a family plan. I don’t know if the plan is better or worse than most private sector options. From what I’ve heard from friends it’s comparable to plans offered by larger corporations.
The old federal CSRS system was discontinued for employees hired in 1983 or after. There are few people left still working under the old system.
Sick leave: ranges from 2-4 hours each 2 weeks. Annual leave: starts at 3 hours per pay periods due increases to 8 hours after 15 years service.
Big difference between state/local and federal jobs. You really do have to try to get fired/laid off from a federal job. State job security I'm sure varies from one state to another.
That's just wrong. I had a friend who was a teacher, and she was able to take a full year off with pay by using accumulated sick and personal time she'd never used. Try that in private industry.
In my state it's not necessary to go to the DMV to register most vehicles, it can all be done at town hall (for a relatively small "convenience" fee). Commercial vehicles, antique cars, etc. do need to be done at the DMV for the initial registration, renewals can be done by the town.
Not the America I grew up in...I can't be a wakeup call, because it's not an isolated incident. Due to rampant retail theft, nearby Walgreens and CVS have closed multiple stores, permanently, and curtailed hours at remaining stores. Surprisingly, when they do that, in response to crime, the community gets mad at THEM, the greedy stores, not the criminals and perps who cause the change.
The genesis of this was lessening the penalties for stealing. Under $1,000 in theft now in CA is a minor crime that is rarely pursued. Criminal gangs bring calculators-- so when the shopping cart hits $950 in value they push it out the door and load the contents into the car and drive away. The security guards are instructed to not get involved-- since taking any sort of action could cause even greater liability by the store.
Walgreens to Close 5 Stores in San Francisco, Citing ‘Organized’ Shoplifting (Published 2021)
One of the stores was targeted at least five times by the same man, who drew widespread attention for raiding the store on a bike and was later arrested, the authorities said.www.nytimes.com
Ain't life grand ...
I know an FBI agent and a Dept of Labor officer...yes, they have their own armed officers. My brother is a civilian employee for DoD...retired USAF.
Every time the Legislature has considered merit raises for teachers the biggest opponents have been teachers and the teachers union.
I know several who work for Homeland Security. They have always been very low key about where they work.
I have no idea if this is the reason, but years ago I worked for a state agency and they replaced experience pay raises every few years with merit raises. We didn’t see a problem with this initially until we realized the changes also required the legislature to fund merit raises annually. Over time, the legislature never funded merit raises and we went years without a pay raise. We would get superior performance evaluations every year but no merit raises.
My first wife (RIP) was a civilian employee for the Dept of Defense.
Welcome to private industry. Happened to me at several companies I worked for. In one case I had to make it known (without actually saying it in so many words) I was "looking" in order to get one.
That was either a real failure of the agency administrator or a brilliant ploy to get by without giving raises for several years.
Many of us left. But this was state government, all agencies.
Here we go again ...
www.cnn.com
