Defense Bill Benefits Federal Fire Fighters

October 14, 2009 – The FY 2010 Defense Authorization bill soon to be approved by Congress includes several provisions important to the nation’s federal fire fighters. HR 2647 eliminates the National Security Personnel System (NSPS), transitions employees in Hawaii and Alaska to locality pay, credits federal employee sick leave toward retirement, and excludes a provision to create special age requirements for military retirees for certain federal jobs, including fire fighter positions.

“This bill is a tremendous victory for the nation’s federal fire fighters,” says IAFF 16th District Vice President Jim Johnson. “We are indebted to the many fire fighter champions who serve on the House and Senate Armed Services Committees for their efforts.”

Since 2003, the IAFF has teamed up with like-minded unions in the United Defense Workers Coalition to advocate for repeal of NSPS, a flawed and costly Department of Defense (DoD) performance-based personnel system. Thanks to the leadership of the chair of the House and Senate defense committees, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) and Representative Ike Skelton (D-MO), HR 2647 finally eliminates NSPS. The bill would fold employees in NSPS back into the General Schedule (GS) pay system by 2012. Also, the bill would authorize DoD and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to work together on new personnel flexibilities within the existing GS pay system.

HR 2647 also makes important progress on other policies that improve federal employee benefits. The bill increases retirement benefits earned by federal fire fighters in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands, and it credits employees under the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) for their unused sick leave upon retirement.

Just as significantly, the House-Senate conference committee that wrote the final version of HR 2647 rejected a provision that would waive maximum entry age limits for military retirees. Under the language that had been approved in the Senate, military retirees over the age of 37 would have been eligible for positions in a federal fire department without seeking a waiver. The IAFF raised strenuous objections to the provision due to potential problems in pension funding and promotional opportunities. The conference committee agreed with the IAFF position, and deleted the language.

The House passed HR 2647 by a vote of 281 to 146 on October 8. The Senate is expected to follow suit this week.