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Washington, D.C.—The leader of the nation’s largest independent union of federal employees today applauded Senate approval of the fiscal 2010 Defense Authorization conference report and called for prompt action by the president to sign into law the accompanying legislation containing a number of provisions of importance to federal employees.

Throughout the federal workplace, the most widely-anticipated of these provisions, said President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), would permit those covered under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) to get credit in their annuities for unused sick leave.

“This is a major step forward to helping ensure that FERS-covered employees will soon be on par with their counterparts under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS), who have long been able to credit their sick leave toward their annuity,” Kelley said.

The FERS sick leave provision will be phased in over four years, with a 50 percent credit through Dec. 31, 2013, and a 100 percent credit beginning Jan. 1, 2014.

Along with the sick leave provision, the measure corrects a longstanding anomaly in the CSRS which penalizes federal employees who want to work part-time toward the end of their careers. Often, they are dissuaded from doing so—to the detriment of their agencies, which can still use their expertise and accumulated institutional knowledge—because such part-time work can result in the annuity of these employees ultimately not being calculated correctly.

Another of the bill’s provisions favorable to federal employees would allow those under FERS who return to federal service to redeposit their retirement contributions and receive credit for years of service. The measure also would convert the non-foreign cost-of-living adjustment system to a locality pay system over several years. This change will improve the retirement benefits of federal employees in outlying areas covered by the non-foreign cost-of-living adjustment system.

Today’s action by the Senate also signals the end of the National Security Personnel System (NSPS) by repealing its authority and requiring the transition of Defense Department employees placed under it back into existing personnel systems.

That system was put in place by the previous administration as part of its broad effort to curtail employee rights. President Kelley welcomed repeal of the authority for NSPS, noting that as long as the system was on the books, there remained a danger that elements of it could be adopted throughout government.

The vote in the Senate was the final congressional action needed on this bill, which now heads to the White House for the president’s signature. “I am looking for quick action on the part of President Obama to make this bill law,” President Kelley said. “NTEU and its members are grateful to the many members of Congress who worked tirelessly to bring about these positive changes.”

As the largest independent federal union, NTEU represents 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.