Latest news with #federalworkers
Washington Post
3 days ago
- Business
- Washington Post
IRS warns federal workers about tax debts. Will it cost them their jobs?
The IRS has sent letters to federal workers alleging that they are among 525,000 current and former government staffers who owe back taxes, prompting tax experts to warn that the unpaid bills could be used as a pretext to fire them from their jobs. The letters, mailed last month, begin with the words 'Urgent: You have an outstanding tax issue,' in bold, large type. They started arriving in people's mailboxes shortly after the Office of Personnel Management proposed a rule that would make it easier to dismiss employees who don't meet certain 'suitability criteria,' including 'failure to comply with generally applicable legal obligations, including timely filing of tax returns.' While privacy laws generally prevent the IRS from sharing information about individuals' tax returns with other government agencies, several tax practitioners and employment lawyers who reviewed the letter said agency heads can use unpaid taxes as a basis for firing the workers if the proposed firing guidelines are put into effect. 'I immediately thought: They're trying to find some grounds to use this suitability process,' said Debra D'Agostino, an employment attorney focused on federal employees. 'That's what absolutely immediately jumped in my head.' The letter from the IRS did not specify any consequences that the workers and retirees might face. It acknowledged the recipients' service to the government and reminded them of their responsibility to 'lead by example' by paying their taxes. Jessica Marine, who left her federal job in April and now works as a tax attorney at a Maryland law firm with many federal employees as clients, became concerned when more than 20 of them received the notice. While the clients do owe taxes or have not submitted returns, some are already on payment plans arranged with the IRS, she said. 'This is not to be taken lightly,' she said. She added that if the suitability rule takes effect, 'this is a way the Trump administration could get rid of many federal employees … and it would be 100 percent legal.' The IRS and the Office of Personnel Management did not respond to questions from The Washington Post. Collections letters from the IRS typically include the amount owed or a tax year for which no return was filed. The notices usually include a deadline to pay before penalties increase. But last month's letters, labeled LT36, have none of that personalized information, just a broad warning that the recipient is in some way behind on their taxes. 'The administration came into office saying it wanted to gut the workforce. There were people associated with this administration that said, 'We want it to be psychologically damaging when we do it.' And that's sort of what's happening,' said Suzanne Summerlin, a federal appointee under President Joe Biden who is now a labor attorney focused on the federal workforce. The IRS letters seem to be 'another attack that this administration is making on its own workforce,' she said. The federal government until now has lacked the authority to fire employees over unpaid taxes, although Republican lawmakers years ago unsuccessfully floated legislation that would have allowed it. Receiving a warning from the IRS might make employees apprehensive about staying in government and being 'subjected to this level of scrutiny,' Summerlin said. All Americans are obligated by law to file returns and pay their taxes, but a program called FERDI — the Federal Employee/Retiree Delinquency Initiative — that dates back to 1993 allows the IRS to take extra measures to collect back taxes from federal workers. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration noted in a 2023 report that cases of federal workers behind on their taxes have risen, from just under 4 percent of federal workers in 2015 to just under 5 percent in 2021, the most recent year for which estimates were available. (The rate for all taxpayers tends to fall between 8 and 9 percent, so federal workers are doing better.) According to the 2023 report, the largest number of federal workers who failed to submit their tax returns for two or more years worked for the U.S. Postal Service, followed by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the military. More than 3 in 4 non-filers had annual income below $100,000. The IRS generally explains numbered notices like this one on its website, but the agency has not posted online information about LT36. The IRS did send the letters, but after California accountant Logan Allec posted about the letter on YouTube, some people told him they had thought the letter was a scam mimicking a real IRS letter, since it didn't come up on the IRS website, he said. The comments on his video filled up with several people who claimed they got the letter, checked their balance and found they did not actually owe any taxes. 'Notices usually have information about the taxpayer's account: the balance due, the penalties, the interest, a particular due date,' Allec said. He found some of the notices that his clients received frustrating. In one case, the IRS had claimed months ago that Allec's client owed a 10 percent early-withdrawal penalty on all of the money that he took out of a retirement account. Allec thinks the client only owes a penalty on some of the money and has exchanged multiple letters with the IRS trying to resolve the issue. That client received the LT36 letter and is 'kind of freaking out,' Allec said, even though he is in the midst of a good-faith effort to pay what he rightly owes. About two dozen clients of Los Angeles tax adviser Mike Habib's firm received the letter, he said. Habib said taxpayers who get the notice should call the IRS, figure out what they owe, and pay it quickly or set up a payment plan. 'I would expect within five to six months, if you ignore it, then the IRS will move on to possibly levies and things like that,' he said. 'If you work for the government, they expect you to be compliant with the federal tax laws.'
CNN
3 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Trump administration allows federal workers to promote religious beliefs
ReligionFacebookTweetLink Follow The Trump administration will allow federal workers to promote their religious beliefs to colleagues, display religious items at work and pray together or individually, according to a memorandum issued Monday by the Office of Personnel Management. The guidance, from OPM Director Scott Kupor, declares that federal agencies 'should allow personal religious expression by Federal employees to the greatest extent possible unless such expression would impose an undue hardship on business operations.' This means that a federal worker, according to the memorandum, 'may engage another in polite discussion of why his faith is correct and why the non-adherent should re-think his religious beliefs,' but 'if the nonadherent requests such attempts to stop, the employee should honor the request.' The memorandum lays out the caveat: 'provided that such efforts are not harassing in nature.' Federal workers will also be able to invite each other to religious services or pray in groups at the office when not on duty. Other examples of permitted religious activities listed by OPM state that a park ranger leading a tour through a national park is allowed to pray with a tour group or a doctor working at a Veterans Affairs hospital may pray over a patient. Workers may also display religious items on their desks. The memo advises agencies to review and, if needed, revise internal policies to ensure that they appropriately protect religious expression. Federal law already offers some protections for religious expression in the workplace. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 forbids employers from discriminating based on religion. They are required to make reasonable accommodations for their employees' religious practices and beliefs unless it would be an 'undue hardship' to do so. In a news release, Kupor said the idea is to make the federal workplace 'not just compliant … but welcoming to Americans of all faiths.' The memo, issued by what is essentially the human resources department of the federal government, is the Trump administration's latest efforts around religion. In May, the president created a Religious Liberty Commission, and, in February, he signed an executive order forming a task force to eradicate anti-Christian bias. 'We're bringing religion back to our country,' Trump promised at a prayer breakfast in Washington when he announced plans for the Religious Liberty Commission. CNN's Betsy Klein contributed to this report.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration memo clears way for federal employees to push their ‘correct' religion on other coworkers
Federal workers should not face any punishment for trying to convince colleagues of the 'correctness' of their personal religion, according to a new set of policies from the Trump administration. 'During a break, an employee may engage another in polite discussion of why his faith is correct and why the non-adherent should re-think his religious beliefs,' reads one portion of the administration's memo. 'However, if the nonadherent requests such attempts to stop, the employee should honor the request.' The memo, issued Monday by the Office of Personnel Management, comes as the White House has made a priority of promoting religious faith and stamping out what it sees as anti-Christian bias. The policy, first reported by Fox News, details a variety of other permitted religious expressions for federal workers, including keeping holy books or religious instruments such as rosary beads at their desks, wearing clothing with religious messages or symbols, and inviting colleagues to religious services on personal bulletin boards. The memo also detailed other possible examples of allowed conduct including a park ranger joining her tour group in a prayer or a Veterans Affairs doctor praying over a patient. Trump, who claims to be a Christian, with strong support among evangelicals, has made promoting religious faith a key part of his agenda. Trump-branded Bibles were sold while on the campaign trail. Once he took office, Trump created a task force in February to root out what he said was anti-Christian bias in the government and beyond. During remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast laying out the idea for the effort, the president cited the example of Paulette Harlow, whom he described as having been arrested for praying outside an abortion clinic. Harlow, who Trump pardoned along with other anti-abortion activists, was part of a group of 10 who conspired to make a fake appointment at a Washington abortion clinic in 2020, then 'forcefully entered the clinic and set about blockading two clinic doors using their bodies, furniture, chains, and ropes,' according to the Justice Department at the time. It resulted in an injury to a clinic nurse and forced a patient to climb through a receptionist's window, while another 'laid in the hallway outside of the clinic in physical distress, unable to gain access to the clinic,' prosecutors said. Protecting religious liberty and stopping faith-based discrimination has also been a key theme in the Trump administration's efforts to crack down on top university campuses, which the White House has accused of tolerating antisemitism during protests over the Israel-Hamas war. In many cases the administration has sought changes beyond reforms to religious protections at these Ivy League schools, pushing for changes including ending diversity hiring and conducting 'viewpoint diversity' audits of campus faculty and students. The president's actions on immigration have provoked consistent criticism from Catholic Church leaders and charities. Faith-based agencies are among the main providers of the now dramatically curtailed refugee resettlement effort in the U.S. and the Catholic Church has a large following within Latino immigrant communities.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump administration memo clears way for federal employees to push their ‘correct' religion on other coworkers
Federal workers should not face any punishment for trying to convince colleagues of the 'correctness' of their personal religion, according to a new set of policies from the Trump administration. 'During a break, an employee may engage another in polite discussion of why his faith is correct and why the non-adherent should re-think his religious beliefs,' reads one portion of the administration 's memo. 'However, if the nonadherent requests such attempts to stop, the employee should honor the request.' The memo, issued Monday by the Office of Personnel Management, comes as the White House has made a priority of promoting religious faith and stamping out what it sees as anti-Christian bias. The policy, first reported by Fox News, details a variety of other permitted religious expressions for federal workers, including keeping holy books or religious instruments such as rosary beads at their desks, wearing clothing with religious messages or symbols, and inviting colleagues to religious services on personal bulletin boards. The memo also detailed other possible examples of allowed conduct including a park ranger joining her tour group in a prayer or a Veterans Affairs doctor praying over a patient. Trump, who claims to be a Christian, with strong support among evangelicals, has made promoting religious faith a key part of his agenda. Trump-branded Bibles were sold while on the campaign trail. Once he took office, Trump created a task force in February to root out what he said was anti-Christian bias in the government and beyond. During remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast laying out the idea for the effort, the president cited the example of Paulette Harlow, whom he described as having been arrested for praying outside an abortion clinic. Harlow, who Trump pardoned along with other anti-abortion activists, was part of a group of 10 who conspired to make a fake appointment at a Washington abortion clinic in 2020, then 'forcefully entered the clinic and set about blockading two clinic doors using their bodies, furniture, chains, and ropes,' according to the Justice Department at the time. It resulted in an injury to a clinic nurse and forced a patient to climb through a receptionist's window, while another 'laid in the hallway outside of the clinic in physical distress, unable to gain access to the clinic,' prosecutors said. Protecting religious liberty and stopping faith-based discrimination has also been a key theme in the Trump administration's efforts to crack down on top university campuses, which the White House has accused of tolerating antisemitism during protests over the Israel-Hamas war. In many cases the administration has sought changes beyond reforms to religious protections at these Ivy League schools, pushing for changes including ending diversity hiring and conducting ' viewpoint diversity' audits of campus faculty and students. criticism from Catholic Church leaders and charities. Faith-based agencies are among the main providers of the now dramatically curtailed refugee resettlement effort in the U.S. and the Catholic Church has a large following within Latino immigrant communities.
Washington Post
19-07-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Children of ex-federal workers' rally against job cuts
Politics Children of ex-federal workers' rally against job cuts July 19, 2025 | 11:53 AM GMT Former federal workers gathered at the Hart Senate Office Building, some accompanied by their children, to speak with Senate staff about the work they once did.
