In case federal employees did not have enough to worry about already, a Jan. 14 memorandum from the Office of Management and Budget calls on federal agency heads to prepare for possible budget cuts due to sequestration or the expiration of the six-month continuing resolution currently funding the government by considering hiring freezes, early retirement incentives, and furloughs.

"In the coming months, executive departments and agencies . . . will confront significant uncertainty regarding the amount of budgetary resources available for the remainder of the fiscal year," OMB Deputy Director for Management Jeffrey D. Zients wrote in the memo.

"In particular, unless Congress acts to amend current law, the President is required to issue a sequestration order on March 1, 2013, canceling approximately $85 billion in budgetary resources across the Federal Government. Further uncertainty is created by the expiration of the Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2013 (CR) on March 27, 2013," Zients said.

Agency heads in the memo were directed to consider "imposing hiring freezes, releasing temporary employees or not renewing term or contract hires, authorizing voluntary separation incentives and voluntary early retirements, or implementing administrative furloughs."

In the event that Congress fails to act to avoid sequestration, the memo said, "Federal agencies will likely need to furlough hundreds of thousands of employees and reduce essential services such as food inspections, air travel safety, prison security, border patrols, and other mission-critical activities."

OMB will provide agencies with additional guidance as appropriate, Zients wrote. Let's hope that Congress and the president can work together during the next few months to make such guidance unnecessary.

In other public sector news:

• The U.S. Supreme Court has granted a federal employee's widow's petition for review in her state law claim for life insurance proceeds under her deceased husband's Federal Employees Group Life Insurance policy. The Virginia Supreme Court ruled in January 2012 that the decedent's widow could not bring a claim of recovery for the death benefits received by his ex-wife and designated beneficiary because the federal law that established FEGLI preempted Virginia state law. 

• Following the U.S. Postal Service's failure to make two required retiree health prefunding payments, the Government Accountability Office found in a recent report that the service's deteriorating financial outlook will make it difficult to continue the current prefunding schedule. USPS has objected to the report, calling it "inappropriate" for GAO to discuss the Postal Service's outlook without also discussing its plans to establish its own health plan outside of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. 

• Gov. Pat Quinn (D) has appealed a court order requiring Illinois to pay millions of dollars in back wages owed to more than 30,000 state employees after the state skipped paying an annual wage increase promised under a collective bargaining agreement. 

• Under legislation approved by Illinois state lawmakers, Gov. Quinn would have the authority to exempt hundreds of managerial employees from public sector collective bargaining.