U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce

November 3, 2003

MEMORANDUM FOR HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

FROM:       KAY COLES JAMES
                    Director

SUBJECT:  Official Time for Union-Related Activities

Background

On June 17, 2002, I issued a memorandum to agency and department heads describing my expectations when it comes to granting and using official Government time for union-related activities. I emphasized that labor and management officials are equally accountable to the taxpayer and have a shared responsibility to ensure that official time is authorized and used appropriately. To achieve greater accountability in this area, I instructed agencies to report to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) at the end of each fiscal year on the number of hours of official time used by employees to perform representational activities.

Discussed in more detail below are OPM's summary of official time reports for FY 2002; the official time information that agencies will be expected to submit for FY 2003; and the additional measures I plan to take to address official time practices in the Federal Government.

SUMMARY REPORT FOR FY 2002

Agencies reported 4,765,848 hours of official time in FY 2002. This is an increase of 10 per cent since 1998, the last time that OPM collected official time data. The estimated cost of official time for FY 2002 is $114,280,000, an increase of 5.52 percent since 1998. The average amount of official time per bargaining unit employee in FY 2002 was 4.21 hours. In FY 1998, the average amount was 3.99 hours per employee.

OPM's complete agency-by-agency summary report for FY 2002 is attached. See Attachment 1.

COLLECTION OF FY 2003 OFFICIAL TIME DATA

For FY 2003, OPM is again asking agencies to report the number of hours of official time used by employees to perform union-related activities. Agencies must submit their reports to OPM by January 30, 2004. We have prepared the attached guidance to help you prepare your reports and to answer any questions you may have. See Attachment 2.

COLLECTION OF OFFICIAL TIME DATA FOR FY 2004 AND BEYOND

As OPM's summary report makes clear, there has been a significant increase in both the number of hours of official time and the cost of such time since 1998. I believe that new measures are needed to ensure the level of accountability that the Administration and Congress insist upon and that the American people expect when it comes to taxpayer dollars. That is why OPM will be taking the following steps to address official time use in the Federal Government:

• We will conduct a special study of the procedures used to request and grant official time for union representational activities and the way that official time hours and costs are reported. We will focus on the Government's largest bargaining units and evaluate the effectiveness of their official time practices. The study will yield crucial information about official time procedures and also help agencies better manage their resources and their labor-management relations programs. We expect to complete the study by March 2004.
  
  
• As part of our e-Payroll initiative, OPM will establish reporting mechanisms for the use of official time for union representational purposes as part of every agency's payroll system. This will ensure that all unionized Federal agencies can record and track official time and assure appropriate accountability on the part of both labor and management.
  
  
• For FY 2004 and beyond, agencies will be asked to report not only how many hours of official time are being used but what they are being used for. Such information will yield more useful data about official time practices across the Government. While we plan to issue more detailed reporting instructions for FY 2004 at a later date, here are the categories for which official time information will be sought:
  
  
  • Term Negotiations-official time used by union representatives to prepare for and negotiate a basic collective bargaining agreement or its successor.
    
    
  • Mid-Term Negotiations-official time used to bargain over issues raised during the life of a term agreement.
    
    
  • Dispute Resolution-official time used to process grievances up to and including arbitrations and to process appeals of bargaining unit employees to the various administrative agencies such as the MSPB, FLRA and EEOC and, as necessary, to the courts.
    
    
  • General Labor-Management Relations-official time used for: meetings between labor and management officials to discuss general conditions of employment, labor-management committee meetings, labor relations training for union representatives, and union participation in formal meetings and investigative interviews.

I have strongly supported the right of Federal employees to use official time to represent bargaining unit employees. At the same time, I have been clear that the right to official time carries with it a responsibility to use that time appropriately, efficiently, and when workload conditions permit. I believe the new initiatives outlined above will strengthen accountability to the taxpayer and substantially improve the tracking and reporting of official time.

If you have any questions, please contact Jeffrey Sumberg, Deputy Associate Director, Center for Workforce Relations and Accountability Policy, at 202-606-2639. He may also be reached via e-mail at jsumberg@opm.gov.

CC: Chief Human Capital Officers