Federal Newscast

For the second time in a matter of weeks, the Justice Department won a big settlement from a federal contractor to settle claims it violated the False Claims Act.
Plus, a federal court holds up one of the White House's reduction efforts for one agency, and a large swath of soldiers get the ok to rejoin the military after refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.
These stories and more in today's Federal Newscast!
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House Republicans are calling for fair compensation and benefits for more federal law enforcement personnel. A letter addressed to the Office of Personnel Management points out discrepancies in how some law enforcement officers are classified for retirement purposes. The GOP lawmakers are calling on OPM to review the benefits specifically for police officers at the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, as well as DoD’s Force Protection Agency, and personnel at the Federal Protective Service.
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The National Park Service has designated the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial as an affiliated area. The National Park Service, the Department of Defense and the Pentagon Memorial Fund signed a memorandum of agreement earlier this week to create a formal affiliation with the National Park Service. The agreement leaves ownership and day-to-day management of the memorial by DoD unchanged. Through the partnership, the organizations will work together to strengthen public understanding of the memorial, its national significance and the events it commemorates. Dedicated on September 11, 2008, the memorial honors the 184 victims killed at the Pentagon and aboard Flight 77.
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All 11 Democrats on the House Veterans Affairs Committee are pressing Doug Collins, the VA secretary, for answers about why the agency is rejecting requests from employees for reasonable accommodations. In a letter sent to VA yesterday, Committee Ranking Member Mark Takano and 10 other lawmakers want Collins to provide answers to nine questions about the department's policies and actions in granting telework and other workplace flexibilities. The committee members say they continue to hear cases of veteran employees who were previously approved for telework accommodations now being required to commute to a duty station. The lawmakers want answers from VA by September 22.
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Federal wildland firefighters will continue to earn overtime pay, even after they hit a legal cap on overtime hours. The continuing resolution that Congress passed last week included a provision to extend a waiver on the cap for federal overtime pay, at least until the end of 2027. Many wildland firefighters work extensive overtime during peak wildfire season. But due to a legal loophole, they often meet a ceiling on earning overtime pay. The National Federation of Federal Employees is calling for the passage of legislation to permanently scrap the overtime
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