Top Stories
Ask Your Rep. to
Contact the IRS Commissioner
NTEU has made
it easier for members to educate their representatives
on the IRS plan to slash hundreds of Estate and Gift Tax
Attorneys this fall.
With just a click of the
mouse, you can tell your member of Congress why you're
opposed to the plan and include a suggested letter
opposing the cuts they can send to IRS Commissioner Mark
Everson.
For more on what you can do,
click
here or visit
<http://capwiz.com/
nteu/issues/alert/?alert
id=8966546&type=CO>.
| |
OPM Telework Guidance
Misses the Mark
New telework guidelines issued to
federal agencies are missing two key elements needed for success:
employee input and assurances that participants will have the
equipment they need to do their jobs, NTEU President Colleen M.
Kelley said.
Kelley responded to the final installment of
telework guidelines, released Aug. 4 by the Office of Personnel
Management (OPM), to help agencies prepare for a flu pandemic and
other emergencies.
Giving employees a voice in drafting
guidelines would ensure that their concerns are addressed before a
telework program takes effect, Kelley said. OPM also should stress
to federal agencies the importance of providing teleworking
employees with the necessary tools, including high-speed Internet
access, secure networks and access to appropriate
databases.
For the complete story, click
here or visit
<www.nteu.org/
PressKits/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?ID=947>.
NTEU Grievance on PFP Increases
at FDIC Moves to Arbitration
NTEU is adding a new
chapter to its longstanding opposition to the unfair distribution of
pay-for-performance (PFP) increases at the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (FDIC). The union last week invoked arbitration of its
national grievance alleging discrimination of 2006 PFP increases
based on age, race and grade level.
FDIC's latest inequitable distribution
of pay increases mirrors problems that plagued the agency's 2005
Corporate Success Awards (CSA) program. NTEU sought to resolve these
issues during negotiations for a new Compensation Agreement when it
pushed to have pay increases tied directly to evaluation scores
using the job-based Performance-Management Program (PMP) criteria.
Although management refused to rely solely on PMP scores, FDIC did
agree to include them as part of the PFP evaluation. NTEU hoped this
would reduce employee complaints about the distribution of pay
increases, but management continued to use subjective, ill-defined
factors when distributing its 2006 raises.
Meanwhile, NTEU
continues to pursue its national grievance alleging the 2005 CSA
program discriminated against the same employee groups identified in
the union's 2006 grievance. NTEU hopes that its aggressive pursuit
of these grievances will pressure FDIC to make improvements to the
system.
NTEU Fights to Protect FLSA Rights of
Certain FNS Employees
NTEU on Friday filed a grievance on behalf of approximately 150 employees of the
Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) who NTEU believes were incorrectly
classified as exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA),
causing them to receive insufficient overtime pay.
NTEU
uncovered errors in FNS's classification of employees after
reviewing information received from a Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) request. Employees in certain positions should have been
reclassified as covered by the FLSA as the result of a 1997
settlement NTEU secured. However, the data shows that only some
employees, but not all, within the same positions and grades were
reclassified as FLSA non-exempt. Positions where NTEU found
improperly classified employees include:
| •
Investigator, Series 1810 |
•
Program Analyst, Series 343 |
| • Program
Specialist, Series 301 |
• Public Affairs
Specialist, Series 1035 |
| •
Writer-Editor, Series 1082 |
• IT Specialists,
Series 2210
(formerly Computer Specialists, Series
334) |
NTEU found other positions at some or
all grades that appear to be misclassified for FLSA purposes
including Financial Management Specialists, Series 501, and
Management Analysts, Series 343. NTEU will continue to research
these classifications.
NTEU will provide updates on the
grievance in future issues of the NTEU
e-Bulletin.
Headlines
DHS Will Not Seek
Full Appeals Court Review of Labor Decision
GovExec, August 11, 2006
The Homeland Security Department does
not plan to exercise one of its options for challenging the decision
of a panel of appellate judges to enjoin its new labor relations
system, a department official told Government Executive
Friday.
DHS still can ask the Supreme Court to
review its case. The department has until Sept. 25 to decide, and
the official said the department has reserved judgment on whether to
do so. If DHS opts not to appeal, or is rejected by the Supreme
Court, then officials will have to rewrite regulations governing the
collective bargaining, adverse actions and appeals parts of the
department's sweeping new human resources system.
National Treasury Employees Union
President Colleen Kelley said she had not heard from agency
officials since the June appeals decision. She wrote DHS Secretary
Michael Chertoff a letter the day after the decision asking for a
meeting, but said she did not receive a reply.
For the
complete story, click
here or visit
<www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?
articleid=34769&dcn=todaysnews>.
IRS Poised to
Take Collections Private
Minneapolis Star-Tribune, August 10, 2006
The Internal Revenue Service is weeks
away from sending a batch of delinquent tax cases to private debt
collectors, even though the House moved to stop the
program.
The National Treasury Employees Union,
which represents IRS workers, said the agency's rank and file was
notified by e-mail of the Aug. 31 start of the collection
program.
The House in June approved a fiscal
year 2007 IRS budget that banned funding for private debt
collectors. In addition, 27 House members signed a letter urging the
agency to halt the program. The Senate, however, hasn't added
similar restrictions in its version of the IRS budget.
For
the complete story, click
here or visit
<www.startribune.com/535/story/608002.html>.
