The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2021

70 JULY-AUGUST 2021 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Department (whose employees did receive coverage). In January 2021, the Foreign Service Labor Relations Board ruled in AFSA’s favor in the 2015 and 2016 Merito- rious Service Increase disputes. As a result, dozens of our members will receive retroactive MSIs or adjusted annui- ties. In March 2021 we wrote to the Secretary of State asking the department to voluntarily pay retroactive 2014 MSIs because this was the only cohort of the four cases we filed (2013-2016) that did not receive retroactive MSIs, and they are awaiting a response. On the legal front, LM assisted about a dozen mem- bers charged with security violations when the depart- ment retroactively classified emails sent from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private server (none of the employees AFSA assisted were found culpable of the violations). LM also filed a number of implementation disputes, including against the State Department relating to the composition of reconstituted tenure boards and the failure of the department to allow AFSA to participate in meetings with the China/Cuba cohort. Both of these disputes were favorably resolved. We favorably resolved the case of 49 DS special agent candidates who were not paid overtime. We are currently engaged in negotiations with the department on numerous topics, including the elimi- nation of linked assignments, early bidding on service need differential and historically difficult to staff posts, modifications to the performance management process and finalizing an MSI award program using gender-blind nominations. Retiree Services D uring the 2019-2021 Governing Board term, AFSA’s retirement services team substantially expanded AFSA’s online, print and electronic guidance for both active-duty and retired members on federal benefits issues and post-retirement activities. The AFSA website’s Retirement Services section at afsa.org/retirement-services fea- tures links to nearly 100 resources. These include videos of AFSA federal benefits seminars featuring experts discussing topics such as Medicare Part B, the Thrift Savings Plan and long-term care insurance; AFSA- produced written guidance such as “Twelve Retirement Pitfalls to Avoid” and “AFSAMembership in Retirement: What’s In It for You?”; and the latest official guidance from the Department of State on Foreign Ser- vice retirement issues. In addition to online guidance, in the past two years AFSA emailed members bimonthly retirement newslet- ters, highlighting several federal benefits topics in each one that employees or retirees sometimes overlook—to their financial detriment. AFSA continued to mail retired members the annual AFSA Directory of Retired Mem- bers, offering the means to connect annuitants to friends and colleagues, as well as providing two dozen pages of information on Foreign Service retirement issues. Just as AFSA’s Labor Management office helps active-duty employees throughout their careers, AFSA’s Retire- ment Services team assists retirees who encounter difficulties with the government bureaucracy. AFSA Counselor for Retir- ees Dolores Brown (herself an FS retiree) has excellent working relationships with supervisors in State’s Office of Retirement and the Bureau of the Comptroller and Global Financial Services, which she uses to answer members’ questions and help resolve problems. In the past few years, she initiated the Next Stage program, which includes events geared toward post-Foreign Service employment options and activities. Of note is an associated page at afsa.org/teaching-diplomacy, which is a sharing space containing curricula from leading foreign policy institutions. AFSA Retiree VP John Naland gave several presenta- tions on federal benefits. He also represented AFSA on the Federal-Postal Coalition—a group of 30 organizations including Civil Service unions representing 2.7 million federal employees and 2.6 million federal retirees—which conducts advocacy work on federal-governmentwide benefits issues. John Naland, the AFSA Retiree VP, shares tips for retirement planning on Jan. 29, 2020 at AFSA headquarters. AFSA AFSA TERM REPORT