Yesterday, President Biden announced an Executive Order requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for Federal workers. PMA reacted ahead of the formal announcement. The EO directs the Safer Federal Workforce Taskforce to issue guidance within a week to help agencies implement vaccination programs for workers. Because the EO makes it clear that exceptions will be made as required by law, PMA anticipates reasonable accommodations will be made available for those workers who have a medical contraindication to a component of the vaccine or sincerely held religious objection to this type of medical care.
PMA, along with our coalition and union partners, met with the White House COVID Response Team and the Safer Federal Workforce Taskforce this afternoon to share our concerns as they develop the forthcoming guidance. We encourage you to share your concerns with us so we can be sure to include as many perspectives as possible in our next discussion. We will continue to keep you informed.
In the meanwhile, recent studies show that vaccines are very effective at keeping you alive and out of the hospital. We encourage you to get vaccinated as soon as possible. The sooner we beat this pandemic, the sooner we can come back together and see you again.
As PMA continues to grow and update, you may see more communications from us. PMA's National Board of Directors and PMA's Chapter Presidents are all active IRS managers, management officials, and employees, and their messages will almost always come to you from an IRS email account. PMA emails will now come to you from our new email server - promanager.org. At this time, PMA has two people working on staff. Chad Hooper, our Executive Director, was an IRS manager until October 2020 when he came aboard to lead PMA. Bobbie McFarland, our Administrative Assistant, retired from her role as President of Arts Council Northeast in Texas and joined PMA in 2020. Bobbie often helps members with questions, supports new members through the onboarding process, and keeps everything at PMA running as smoothly as possible behind the scenes. As soon as we're back in the office, Chad, Bobbie, and the National Board can't wait to come and meet you!
Out of the more than two million individuals employed by the Federal Government, it is quite possible that you could have important questions regarding your federal benefits. A limited understanding of FEGLI, your Pension, Survivors Annuity, FEHB, Social Security and Thrift Savings Plan could cost you thousands of dollars during your working career, and even larger amounts of money during your retirement. This webinar will include provide much needed information so you can understand your current situation, what things cost, how those costs change over time, how you are trending towards retirement, and the additional options available to you.
Join PMA's newest partner, American Benefits Exchange, for a one-hour Zoom webinar on Tuesday, September 28th, at 3PM Eastern. This free event is open to everyone - register today!
PMA recommends attending this Zoom webinar using your personal device for the best experience.
You need to go into HRConnect by Friday (today!) and attest to whether or not you've been vaccinated, or you can choose to decline to share that information. If you decline, you still must do so in HRConnect.
President Biden nominated Tristan Leavitt to the third and final vacancy on the Merit Systems Protection Board. Mr. Leavitt has been running the MSPB administratively while its been without a board and knows the agency thoroughly. PMA is very supportive of all three nominees and is working with our contacts in the Senate to press for quick confirmation of these well-qualified candidates. For two years, the MSPB has been without any board members at all, leaving civil servants' cases to languish for years without resolution.
We apologize to those of you who had difficulty accessing our most recent communication. A programming error made its way into a majority of the emails distributed. Please find that content, though a bit dated, on our website.
