Author: Brian Lund
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Federal law bars employers from firing a worker because their wages were garnished for a single debt
An employer cannot legally fire a worker because the worker’s wages were garnished for a single debt. That protection comes from federal law, and it applies no matter how many times a collector sends the employer a garnishment order to collect that one debt. The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division explains in its…
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State unclaimed-property offices let owners and heirs search for forgotten accounts for free
Every state runs a program that holds forgotten money for its owners, and searching it costs nothing. The Federal Trade Commission says every state has a process to search for unclaimed funds for free. A site called MissingMoney.com, managed by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, is free as well and searches many states…
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Treasury says paper-check waivers for federal benefits stay in effect until further notice
Treasury says the procedures for getting a waiver from the electronic payment rule remain in place for now. The Bureau of the Fiscal Service wrote that existing electronic payment waiver procedures remain in effect until further notice. That matters to anyone who still gets a federal benefit check in the mail. Since Sept. 30, 2025,…
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Debt collectors must send validation information, and consumers get a 30-day window to dispute the debt
A debt collector has to send a consumer a written breakdown of the debt, called validation information, and the consumer then has 30 days to dispute it. The rules come from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which wrote them into Regulation F. A dispute made in writing inside that window makes the collector stop…
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Competitive-service federal workers will no longer wait 52 weeks in grade before promotion to GS-6 or above starting January 19, 2027
The Office of Personnel Management has finalized a rule that ends the 52-week time-in-grade wait for promotions to competitive-service General Schedule jobs at GS-6 and above. The rule takes effect January 19, 2027. Employees who have not spent a full year in their current grade will be eligible to be considered for a higher grade…
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Federal workers in agency workforce realignments get no more than 12 weeks of administrative leave per instance from November 18 without OPM and OMB approval
Federal employees caught in an agency workforce realignment will be limited to 12 weeks of administrative leave in any single instance starting November 18, 2026. Only a higher threshold approved jointly by the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget can stretch that. The cap is in an OPM final rule,…
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Immigrant workers who filed work-permit renewals on or after October 30, 2025 no longer get up to 540 extra days to keep working while they wait
Immigrant workers who file to renew a work permit no longer get up to 540 extra days of permission to keep working while the renewal is pending, if they filed on or after October 30, 2025. The Department of Homeland Security made that permanent with a final rule that took effect October 14, 2026. The…
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Debt collectors cannot sue or threaten to sue over debts past the state time limit, the CFPB says, but a partial payment can restart the clock in some states
Debt collectors cannot sue, or threaten to sue, over a debt that is past the state time limit for lawsuits, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says. In some states, though, a partial payment or even a promise to pay can bring an old debt back to life and restart that clock. For anyone getting calls…
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Workers’ inflation-adjusted weekly pay fell from August to September, BLS says
Prices rose faster than paychecks in September, and the average worker’s buying power slipped. Real average weekly earnings, which adjust weekly pay for inflation, fell 0.5 percent from August to September, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The figures are in the agency’s Real Earnings release for September 2026, published Oct. 14. They cover all…
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Social Security stops withholding for earnings once a working beneficiary reaches full retirement age
Social Security stops holding back benefits because of work income once a beneficiary reaches full retirement age. From that month on, a person can earn any amount from a job and still receive the full monthly check. The change applies to people who started benefits early and kept working. The Social Security Administration says on…