Friday Alert from the Alliance for Retired Americans – June 6, 2014

GOP Calls for Repeal of Affordable Care Act Are Fading Fast In a sign that the harshest opposition to the Affordable Care Act may be softening, GOP candidates across the country are dropping calls to repeal the health care reform law and are instead spending this year’s election season talking about trying to “fix” it. … Read more

Postal Retirement Q&A June 2014

Good Day Postal Employees!! Several months ago, (and quite frankly for the last year) I’ve been harping on reviewing your eOPF’s. Serious situations caused by improper filing of forms, and generally what is and IS NOT contained in your eOPF, was based on this case. I explained a month or so ago, that the case … Read more

APWU: New Code on Form 50 Reflects Bigger Deduction for Retirement

Web News Article #: 111-14 June 3, 2014 – Several people have inquired about the designation “FERS-RAE” on the Form 50s of employees who were recently converted from Postal Support Employee to career. The new designation reflects that the employees were hired as career employees on or after Jan. 1, 2013, and are covered under … Read more

APWU: Friday Alert from the Alliance for Retired Americans – May 30, 2014

The Alliance Releases Annual Voting Record Rating Congress On Thursday, the Alliance released its annual report detailing the voting record of every U.S. Representative and Senator on issues important to current and future retirees. The voting record looks at 10 key votes in both the Senate and the House and assigns a “Pro-Retiree” score for … Read more

USPS OIG: Leaving Traditional Benefits Behind?

Offering workplace benefits such as health and retirement programs and paid vacations is a well established way to attract and retain talented workers. But the structure of these offerings has been changing in the public and private sectors over the past 20 to 30 years for several reasons, including rising pension debts; a more mobile … Read more

Friday Alert from the Alliance for Retired Americans

Quality Home Care and Public Sector Unions at Risk in Supreme Court Case In the coming weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court will issue a ruling in Harris v. Quinn, a case involving the payment of union dues by public-sector home health workers in Illinois. The decision could come as early as next week or as … Read more

APWU COLA Update: CSRS, FERS and SS

For CSRS retirees: (05/21/14) The 2015 CSRS retiree COLA is based on the third quarter (July, August, September) average CPI-W index in 2014 over the 2013 third quarter average. After the first quarter of 2014, the first quarter of the 2015 COLA adjustment period, the quarterly index has risen by 0.4%. For FERS retirees: (05/21/14) … Read more

Friday Alert from the Alliance for Retired Americans

Marco Rubio Proposes Dismantling Medicare and Raising the Retirement Age On Tuesday, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) gave a speech at the National Press Club in which he laid out his sweeping proposal to confront the nation’s retirement security crisis through cuts to Social Security and Medicare. Rubio is widely viewed as a potential candidate for … Read more