Federal employees do get per diem when they are in travel status. However, employees who are inspectors or graders of grain silos, meatpacking companies, slaughterhouses as well as other places that are unsafe do not get hazardous pay. The danger comes with the job and you are told that.

Three USDA inspectors testing a shipment of strawberries for the National School Lunch Program contracted hepatitis. They rejected them because they were coded as coming in from a foreign country. It is a requirement that all food purchased for the National School Lunch Program must be domestically grown. Their superiors in Washington told them to waive the code.



Shortly after that all three inspectors got sick with hepatitis contracted from those strawberries and spent over a week in the hospital. In the meantime, those strawberries were allowed in and were sent to Michigan for the National School Lunch Program. And, shortly after that over a hundred school children contracted hepatitis. It was traced back to the strawberries. For the rest of their lives, those one hundred school children will take medicine and it will be paid for by the United States Government.

The three inspectors were threatened with being fired. Two retired and the third was brought to Washington as punishment. He is still here today. All three pay for their own medication.

Federal employees do not get separation pay. Being separated from the U.S. Government means you are fired. Who pays someone when you fire them? When you leave Federal service whether by resigning or retiring you get your retirement pay and if you have saved your annual leave you are paid whatever you make an hour for each hour of annual leave you have accumulated. If you have worked long enough to accumulate 1,392 hours of sick leave that amount will count as one year of service.

I've worked with Federal employees for over 23 years and agree most are hard working, knowledgable people. However, the posters below who say federal employees do not get hazardous duty pay, per-diem, separation pay. They most certainly do. It is spelled out in the United States Code. All it takes is a simple search to find out the truth.

I've worked with Federal employees for over 25 years and they are hard working, knowledgable people.

They are not "stats". They are people and should be thought of as such. If you and others knew what a lot of these public servants do daily to take care of your country you would be ashamed for your ignorant words and thoughts against them.

They are decent, dedicated workers who do their jobs without complaint and without expecting praise or recognition. They aren't paid nearly as much as they should be and a whole lot of them should get hazardous paid, but they don't.

They should be treated with the respect they earn each and every day.

You like to quote people, Loren, but before you do, find out what people do before you misquote.

Loren, you've stepped in it! I, too, am a "civil servant" or as you say public servant. You have absolutely no idea what many of us do each and every day to help keep this country safe and running as smoothly as possible.

Government employees in jobs that are unsafe and hazardous don't get extra pay for it like the military does when they are deployed.

The military has no income tax deducted (Federal and state), they get Hostile Fire/Imminent Danger Pay, Hardship Duty Pay which varies by location, and soldiers with dependents (spouses and/or kids) get Family Separation Allowance. They also earn $3.50 in per diem (per day) for every day they are deployed payable upon return. Did you forget about that Loren, or just chose not to mention it?

I have never heard a Federal employee complain about not getting extra pay for their hazardous, unsafe job. Getting extra pay never comes up in the conversation.

What many of us do each and every day to insure the safety and well being of each and every aspect of the "upkeep" of this country would astound you. And you won't read about us in the newspaper or hear about us on the evening news.

Federal employees have long had the reputation of making big salaries and doing very little work for it. That is so completely not the case. Many of us could make a whole lot more than we do in the private sector and a lot of good decent people have left government service for the money.

We have families to support, mortgages or rent, utility bills, car payments, children in college, dental bills, credit card bills, and utility bills like every body else.



Congress has many times voted themselves a huge pay raise and they have no shame in doing it. There's your do nothings and slackers, Loren. Half the time they don't even show up for roll call or to attend their committee meetings. There's the people who get paid the BIG bucks.

The unkind and untrue remarks you and others make about Federal employees is absolutely shameful.

Loren, I guess since you left the military and receive your bennies from the government you think it makes it OK for you to knock those of us who are public servants. Right? WRONG!

Now there's hypocrisy for you!

We don't get bennies, Loren. We get paid for doing 8-1/2 hours of work. That extra half hour is for lunch.

Federal employees cannot campaign for anyone because of the Hatch Act. Neither can we publicly endorse anyone. We cannot accept gifts as it can be construed as gaining favor.

There are a whole lot of honest, good people doing jobs to protect every aspect of the running of this country and many are in jobs that are very hazardous and many times thankless.

We are not handed anything. Anytime money is needed to finance a war or whatever, they increase our taxes. For over 30 years now all public servants have Medicare taxes taken out of their paycheck. Did they ask us, no they didn't. They never ask, they just take it.

After Desert Storm, the public servants who inspect every piece of military equipment brought back in to insure that no "hitch hikers" are brought into the country did their inspections while a group of Saddam Hussein's stragglers tried to take the equipment. The inspectors had no guns and there was no military personnel there to protect them. They were alone in the desert doing their job and they stood them down.

There are many people who put their life on the line for this country every day and they are not in the military. Before you pass judgment on us find out what we do to help keep this country running. It is a whole lot more than people know.

Loren, at one time you were a "public servant." I think I remember somewhere on here you stating the number of checks you receive from the government. Want to give a couple of them back?

I am a "civil servant" and very proud of it. My agency here at USDA grades the beef, lamb, pork, veal, poultry, goats, eggs, cotton, fruits and vegetables, among other things, that are for public consumption. We are also home to the National Organic Program. One of our "sister" agencies inspects those same products.

We buy the food for the military. I have probably eaten (through testing) as many MREs as you. We purchase the food for the National School Lunch Program and for needy families.

I have no doubt there are slackers in the government, as there are any place else, but the vast majority of people are hardworking, dedicated people. We must be considering we are not paid on the same level as private industry employees.

Government employees are ordinary people doing extraordinary jobs. We keep your food supply as safe as possible, feed our military, govern schools, highways, airplanes, etc., and we do it because we care.

When I was growing up in Logan County it never entered my mind that I would work in the Nation's Capitol and be part of what I am here, or meet the powerful and the famous people I do, as well as people from different countries. It is a privilege I don't take for granted. But it is because of the work I do here in my job.

Socialism is government control of all aspects of business. There is no free enterprise. No one can own a business for profit, all profit goes to the State. It is a system wrought with problems, one of them being stagnation, because it takes away all incentive to excel.

Socialism has needed services such as medical, police, fire, infrastructure (a combination of state and capitalism working side by side), military, schools, etc. All capitalistic countries have such socialism to varying degrees.

Five minutes after Obama was inaugurated Republicans have tried to convince people that he is making the U.S. a socialist country. Many countries have aspects of socialism, including Maggie Thatcher's Britain.

I suspect socialism, like Obama's birth certificate, are things that has been used to tried to discredit him.

We're already out of money, Loren. God help us but we are broke! We need someone with business, executive, and leadership skills. Mitt Romney has a 59 point plan for getting us back on track. A good many of the trade issues can be resolved with places such as China, but one has to understand the problem to effect a fix. You don't call a plumber when you need an electrician. I have full faith in Mr. Romney. I looked at his record and fully believe he is the best choice to lead this nation from the brink of collapse.

Obama is a socialist...and his plan to destroy capitalism is almost complete. To all who read this, please consider the choices we have and look at their records.