FCW Insider: Aug. 7
The latest news and analysis from FCW's reporters and editors.
TVA rescinds plans to fire tech workers
The federally owned power company called the plan to fire workers and outsource IT operations as a "disappointing misstep" after the president blasted the move.
Top secret telework 'is not a thing'
The National Security Agency is expanding its use of Microsoft Office 365 to support unclassified telework
Lawmakers push back on STARS shutoff date
Changes the GSA made to one of its most popular governmentwide small business set-aside acquisition vehicles draws congressional scrutiny.
Federal court dismisses union complaint about workplace 'resistance' talk
The American Federation of Government Employees had complained an Office of Special Counsel advisory was chilling federal employees' speech.
Quick Hits
*** The Office of Personnel Management will publish its final rule on the 12-weeks of paid parental leave extended to federal employees with Title 5 status who have been on the job for at least a year. The rule takes effect Oct. 1, 2020, as per the authorizing statute. That means parents who birth, adopt or foster a child on Oct. 1 or after are eligible for the benefit, however the leave does not apply to parents of children born, adopted or fostered before that date. Additionally, the regulation provides that federal employees who use the benefit must promise to return to work for at least 12 weeks following the end of the leave, unless prevented from doing so for some medical reason. The government may recover insurance contributions made on that employee's behalf for the term of the 12 weeks of leave if the employee does not return to work.
*** The State Department released a plan designed to expunge "malign actors" from U.S. networks, telecommunications and applications ecosystems. Dubbed the Clean Network program, the effort is designed to put new restrictions on Chinese manufactured devices available to U.S. consumers, to limit access by Chinese state-owned firms to cloud computing services as a means to protecting U.S. corporate and research data and to safeguard undersea cables connecting U.S. networks to the global internet.