The Foreign Service Journal, February 2004

FEBRUARY 2004 • AFSA NEWS 13 AFSA NEWS BRIEFS Successful Year for the AFSA-PAC During 2003, AFSA-PAC raised $37,944, up from $31,184 in 2002. In 2003, AFSA-PACmade contributions totaling $33,000, equally divided between Republicans and Democrats. Foreign Service Retirees to Gather in Key West The Foreign Service Retirees Association of Florida is planning a big Foreign Service weekend reunion in Key West, Fla. The reunion will be held at the Key West Holiday Inn Beachside (305-294- 2571) from May 7 to 9. All Foreign Service retiree groups along the East Coast — Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and New England — are invited to attend. FSRAF is organizing an event for May 8 at the Truman White House on Key West. Attendees will be received by the management of the Truman Museum and given a welcoming speech on President Truman. This will be followed by a guided tour of the museum. That evening there will be a dinner at the hotel, followed by a speech by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman. Members of the FSRAF encourage friends and colleagues along the East Coast to get away from the snow and ice and come on down to sunny Florida. For more information, contact FSRAF Chair Irwin Rubenstein at irer@mindspring.com. Tales from a Small Planet Close to Meeting Cox Challenge This popular Web site for expats —originally started by Francesca Kelly and Fritz Galt as the Spouses’ Underground Newsletter (SUN) — provides Real Post Reports, first-per- son accounts of “what it’s really like” to live in more than 200 cities worldwide, as well as literary offer- ings from around the world. Tales was awarded a grant from the Una Chapman Cox Foundation in 2003. A $5,000 portion of the grant is contingent on the non-profit rais- ing the same amount by June 2004. Donations are critical to the long- term success of this site, run by Foreign Service family members. More than $4,000 has been raised to date. Help Tales meet the challenge and reach $5,000 and beyond! Send tax-deductible donations to Tales from a Small Planet, P.O. Box 6777, Jackson, WY 83002. For more information, go to www.talesmag.com. Outstanding Travel Advance? AFSA suggests that you check your records to see if you have an outstanding travel advance. During a recent meeting, Resource Management told AFSA that there were about 5,000 outstanding travel advances, of which some 4,000 had been outstanding for more than one year. The travel voucher processing branch of RM is moving to Charleston in the middle of 2004. They are working on clearing all outstanding advances before the move. This means that many employees will soon receive letters about outstanding advances. Be prepared to document the status of your advance. AFSA reminds all members to keep paperwork related to travel in case a problem arises. Life in the Foreign Service BY BRIAN AGGELER, FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICER “ IS IT JUST ME , OR ARE YOU HAVING TROUBLE FOLLOWING THESE NEW POSITION PAPERS ?” Overtime Rate Calculation Changes A provision of the Defense Authorization Bill for Fiscal Year 2004 changes the hourly rate payable for Title 5 overtime, effective Nov. 24, 2003. This is the legislation regulating overtime payments and comp time for specialists and untenured generalists overseas. The change affects only the payable rate for overtime hours worked; all other rules and caps remain the same. In the past, overtime pay was capped at 150 percent of the hourly rate for a GS-10, Step 1 ($28.11 without locality pay for 2003). As of Nov. 24, 2003, overtime paid is either the employee’s hourly rate or 150 percent of the hourly rate for a GS-10/1, whichever is greater. Correction In the October AFSA News , the recipient of the Elizabeth Berger Memorial Scholarship was listed as Khristian Lopez. In fact, Joshua Lanzet, a freshman at George Washington University, received the award.