The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) established an annual official time reporting requirement beginning in Fiscal Year (FY) 2002 to reinforce accountability on the part of both labor and management, emphasizing their shared responsibility to ensure official time is authorized and used appropriately. OPM issued the call and guidance for reporting FY 2004 official time data in a January 24, 2005 memorandum to Federal departments and agencies (see appendix_2004). In addition to asking agencies for the official time hours used by employee representatives within their organizations, we asked them for the first time to report official time hours in four categories for which the time was used. Agencies provided the requested information to OPM between March and June 2005. This report presents the data OPM received in response to our FY 2004 call and third annual official time survey.
Official Time: Definition and Statutory Context
Generally defined, official time is authorized and paid time off from assigned government duties to represent a union or its bargaining unit employees. The Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute, at 5 U.S.C. chapter 71, authorizes official time in two broad categories.
First, employees have a statutory right to receive official time to negotiate collective bargaining agreements and participate in impasse proceedings. Official time in this category includes time spent bargaining over a term agreement to establish basic working conditions for unit employees for the life of that agreement. It can also include time spent negotiating during the life of the agreement, also known as mid-term bargaining, over management proposals that the existing term agreement does not address.
Second, the law permits agencies and unions to negotiate official time in connection with other labor-management activities, as long as the time is deemed reasonable, necessary, and in the public interest. Examples include time spent meeting with employees to discuss problems in the workplace, handling employee grievances, attending meetings called by the agency, and receiving training on labor relations topics. Unions cannot use official time for internal union business, such as organizing new members or campaigning for office, nor can they use it for partisan political activities.
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OPM's Role
In 1976, the Civil Service Commission issued a memorandum instructing agencies on how to carry out their responsibilities for authorizing official time. It also directed agencies to establish recordkeeping systems to track official time. After finding that 18 of 26 bargaining units at four agencies had no records of official time usage, the General Accounting Office (GAO) issued a report in 1979 recommending that OPM (formerly the Civil Service Commission) direct agencies to comply with recordkeeping requirements. GAO also recommended that OPM require agencies to submit annual reports on official time.
In response, OPM issued Federal Personnel Manual (FPM) Letter 711-161, requiring agencies to develop recordkeeping systems for official time no later than January 1, 1982. OPM did not, however, require agencies to report annually on official time as GAO had recommended. When OPM abolished the FPM in 1994, we also abolished all official time recordkeeping requirements.
In 1997, House Report 105-240 accompanying Public Law 105-61—FY 1998 Treasury, Postal Service & General Government Appropriations—instructed OPM to sample and report back to the Committee on Appropriations on governmentwide official time usage, looking at a six month period in FY 1998. OPM submitted its findings to the House Appropriations Committee in November 1998 in a report entitled, Official Time and Services Used by Unions Representing Federal Employees. During consideration of FY 2002 appropriations legislation, Congress again focused on official time use in the Federal government and instructed OPM to report FY 2002 usage to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees in H. Rept. 108-10, the Conference Report accompanying H.J. Res. 2—FY 2003 Consolidated Appropriations.
OPM moved to strengthen accountability and agency focus on tracking official time usage and established an annual official time reporting requirement in FY 2002. We reported the results and findings of our FY 2002 and FY 2003 annual surveys in two reports: Summary Report—Official Time for Representational Activities, Fiscal Year 2002 and Official Time Usage in the Federal Government, Fiscal Year 2003. For FY 2004, we refined and expanded the reporting requirements by asking agencies to report official time hours in four categories of use: term negotiations, mid-term negotiations, dispute resolution, and general labor-management relations.
In addition, OPM is working to enhance the accuracy of official time data and reduce the administrative burden on agencies by integrating official time tracking into the e-Payroll Initiative. The Initiative will consolidate payroll services and processes of 26 executive branch Federal pay providers to streamline and standardize policies and procedures, and it will enhance integration of agency payroll, human resources, and finance functions.
With e-Payroll data collection, official time hours will be captured electronically through time and attendance records on a pay-period basis. Some agencies have just begun the transition to the new reporting system. Given the current e-Payroll implementation schedule, we expect that our FY 2006 official time report will be partially, and our FY 2007 report fully, based on official time data collected through the automated official time tracking and reporting system. Upon full implementation, the payroll providers will electronically collect agency official time data through time and attendance records. The providers will then transfer the data into OPM data systems on a pay-period basis. Full implementation should allow us to collect and examine data on governmentwide official time usage on a near real-time basis.
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Survey Terms and Data Elements
This section presents definitions and descriptions of the various survey terms and data elements used in tracking and analyzing Federal government official time usage.
- Departments and Agencies.
-
OPM official time surveys look at all appropriated fund Federal executive departments and agencies that have bargaining unit employees represented by a union. OPM designates each Federal bargaining unit with a Bargaining Unit Status (BUS) code. We maintain BUS codes and bargaining unit profiles in our Labor Agreement Information Retrieval System (LAIRS), a searchable database containing current information on labor-management relations in the Federal government. LAIRS is a public system that may be accessed via the internet at http://www.opm.gov/lmr/lairs.asp. We use LAIRS to generate a current list of agencies with bargaining units to survey each year on official time usage. For the purpose of analysis, we have grouped the data in certain tables into three agency categories: cabinet departments, major agencies (1500+ bargaining unit employees), and all other agencies (less than 1500 bargaining unit employees).
- Bargaining Unit and Bargaining Unit Employees.
-
The term bargaining unit designates a grouping of employees eligible to be represented by a union as certified by the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) under criteria established in 5 U.S.C. § 7112. We used the LAIRS database to generate the FY 2004 bargaining unit employee numbers for this report. Some agencies reported bargaining unit employee numbers along with survey responses. We used the agency numbers in those cases, designating their source through footnotes in the tables presented in this report.
- Official Time and Official Time Hours.
-
Official time means all paid time granted to an employee by their employing agency to perform union representational functions under 5 U.S.C. chapter 71, or under a collective bargaining agreement, when the employee would otherwise be in a duty status. This FY 2004 official time report presents information for the first time on categories of activities for which official time is used. The four reporting categories are:
Term Negotiations |
This category for reporting official time hours refers to time used by union representatives to prepare for and negotiate a basic collective bargaining agreement or its successor, setting basic working conditions for bargaining unit employees for the life of the agreement. |
Mid-Term Negotiations |
This category refers to time used to bargain over issues raised during the life of a term agreement. Most mid-term bargaining takes place when the union seeks to negotiate over the procedures an agency will follow when exercising its management rights or the impact an agency’s decisions will have on bargaining unit employees. |
Dispute Resolution |
This category refers to time used to process grievances, up to and including arbitrations, and to process appeals of bargaining unit employees before various third parties such as the MSPB, FLRA, EEOC and the courts. |
General Labor-Management Relations |
This category for reporting official time hours refers to time used for activities not included in the above three categories. Examples of such activities include 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 discussions and investigative interviews. |
- Official Time Rate.
-
This measure is derived by dividing reported official time hours by the number of bargaining unit employees. The official time rate shows how many official time hours are expended per bargaining unit employee and, therefore, allows for comparisons between departments and agencies.
- Cost.
-
Except as indicated in table footnotes, we estimated agency official time costs using OPM’s Central Personnel Data File (CPDF) FY 2004 wage data. The CPDF data generates an average agency bargaining unit hourly wage that we multiplied by the number of reported official time hours to calculate agency official time costs. Some agencies reported official time costs with their survey responses, and we used the agency numbers in those cases.
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Survey Responses and Findings
We asked 59 Federal departments and agencies with bargaining unit employees to report the number of official time hours used by Federal employee union representatives in FY 2004[1]. Fifty-four of those, encompassing 99.9 percent of all department and agency bargaining unit employees, responded to OPM’s FY 2004 official time survey. The responding 54 departments and agencies employ 1,043,570 bargaining unit employees. Five small agencies with only 1,001 total bargaining unit employees did not respond. The size of bargaining units in the responding agencies ranged from 405,995 bargaining unit employees in the Department of Defense to only 12 bargaining unit employees in the Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Responding agencies and departments reported a total of 3,870,460 official time hours for FY 2004. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) reported the greatest number— 772,403 hours. As shown in the table below, seven of the largest departments and agencies account for 81.0 percent of total bargaining unit employees and 84.8 percent of all reported official time hours.
Agencies with Largest Number of Bargaining Unit (BU) Employees - FY 2004
Departments/Agencies | Bargaining Unit Employees | Official Time Hours |
Defense |
405,995 |
668,104 |
VA |
162,240 |
772,403 |
Treasury |
95,493 |
735,566 |
SSA |
51,728 |
388,455 |
Homeland Security |
48,862 |
145,653 |
Agriculture |
40,869 |
120,644 |
Transportation |
40,276 |
452,379 |
Sub-Total |
845,463 |
3,283,204 |
Total Governmentwide |
1,043,570 |
3,870,460 |
% of Total Governmentwide |
81.0% |
84.8% |
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Comparison of Hours Reported to Previous Fiscal Year
FY 2004 official time hours decreased a substantial 18 percent from the 4,722,347 hours reported in FY 2003. The Department of Defense (DoD), which reported the greatest number of hours in previous years’ surveys, reported a significantly reduced 668,104 total number of hours in FY 2004. DoD’s single-year reduction of 531,315 hours, a 44.3 percent reduction from FY 2003, is a major contributing factor in the governmentwide 18 percent decrease in reported official time hours.
In its survey response, DoD discussed the complexities of updating its internal tracking system to capture four categories of official time use and suggested that this transition played a role in its reported reduction in official time hours. It did not complete full implementation of the updated system until the middle of FY 2004 and, as a result, expressed concerns about the reliability of the estimated full-year data reported. DoD’s substantial decrease represents a disproportionate 62.4 percent share of the governmentwide 851,887-hour decrease in official time usage. The reliability and statistical weight of its reported hours, therefore, has considerable implications in the analysis of governmentwide data and trends.
Several other agencies reported notable differences in their official time hours as compared to FY 2003, and many also cited transition issues as a potential contributing factor in the increases or decreases they were reporting. Like DoD, some of these agencies suggested that ongoing revisions to their tracking systems compromised data reliability to some degree. Many in this group expect an increase in FY 2005 reported hours as further system adjustments are made. On the other hand, some of the agencies reporting substantial fluctuations in their reported hours expressed confidence in newly established time and attendance record-based reporting systems. While several agencies expressed concerns about the reliability of their data due to transition issues, unlike the case with DoD, their impact on governmentwide statistics is marginal, since they represent the smallest bargaining units and reported official time hours.
In addition to systems transition issues, some agencies cited initial and/or ongoing negotiations as contributing factors to increases in their reported hours. Conversely, others attributed decreases to completion of bargaining in the previous year. A few of the agencies cited the absence of Federal employee union representation as a factor in notable decreases in their hours. In one case, for example, the on-site local union was put into trusteeship, and paid union headquarters’ staff provided representation.
The following table displays the official time hours reported by each agency in FYs 2003 and 2004 and the percentage of any change between those two years. The table reflects the wide variations reported by agencies, from a decrease of 86.7 percent to an increase of 134 percent in the number of official time hours used.
Percent Decrease/Increase in Official Time Hours
Departments/Agencies | 2004 Official Time Hours | 2003 Official Time Hours | % Decrease/ Increase |
FCC |
556 |
4,187 |
-86.7 |
Agriculture |
120,644 |
126,419 |
-4.6 |
Armed Forces Retirement Home |
60 |
424 |
-85.8 |
Commerce |
44,276 |
46,191 |
-4.1 |
CFTC |
31 |
168 |
-81.5 |
VA |
772,403 |
791,188 |
-2.4 |
PBGC |
251 |
813 |
-69.2 |
Treasury |
735,566 |
748,793 |
-1.8 |
CPSC |
147 |
378 |
-61.1 |
RRB |
7,916 |
7,992 |
-1.0 |
MSPB |
364 |
769 |
-52.7 |
FMCS |
0 |
0 |
0.0 |
Defense |
668,104 |
1,199,419 |
-44.3 |
FEC |
689 |
689 |
0.0 |
EPA |
30,442 |
52,441 |
-42.0 |
HHS |
46,407 |
46,194 |
0.5 |
Energy |
13,731 |
22,885 |
-40.0 |
Labor |
93,011 |
89,714 |
3.7 |
State |
8,238 |
13,192 |
-37.6 |
FDIC |
9,637 |
9,104 |
5.9 |
Nat'l Gallery of Art |
1,030 |
1,585 |
-35.0 |
NLRB |
14,857 |
14,016 |
6.0 |
Transportation |
452,379 |
682,228 |
-33.7 |
NARA |
6,704 |
6,165 |
8.7 |
Corporation for National Service |
594 |
846 |
-29.8 |
OPM |
7,465 |
6,738 |
10.8 |
NSF |
1,434 |
1,920 |
-25.3 |
NASA |
14,444 |
11,672 |
23.8 |
GSA |
31,402 |
40,877 |
-23.2 |
Justice |
120,591 |
90,072 |
33.9 |
GPO |
7,602 |
9,785 |
-22.3 |
EEOC |
24,013 |
17,810 |
34.8 |
Interior |
22,468 |
26,754 |
-16.0 |
FERC |
206 |
152 |
35.5 |
HUD |
23,286 |
27,471 |
-15.2 |
SEC |
4,525 |
3,122 |
44.9 |
NRC |
4,475 |
5,214 |
-14.2 |
Ct Svc & Offender Supervision |
3,154 |
1,986 |
58.8 |
SBA |
5,746 |
6,495 |
-11.5 |
Broadcasting Board |
15,190 |
9,050 |
67.8 |
Nat'l Endowment for the Humanities |
112 |
125 |
-10.4 |
ITC |
403 |
231 |
74.5 |
Education |
13,114 |
14,538 |
-9.8 |
FTC |
822 |
466 |
76.4 |
AID |
4,275 |
4,680 |
-8.7 |
OPIC |
234 |
100 |
134.0 |
SSA |
388,455 |
420,779 |
-7.7 |
Homeland Security |
145,653 |
156,510 |
-6.9 |
Governmentwide |
3,870,460 |
4,722,347 |
-18.0% |
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Official Time Rates
The average FY 2004 governmentwide official time rate was 3.7 official time hours per bargaining unit employee. Consistent with the reduction in total hours, this represents a governmentwide 18 percent decrease in the official time rate.
Ten agencies, encompassing 204,815 bargaining unit employees, had the highest official time rates—between 7.5 and 12.6 official time hours per bargaining unit employee. This group reported 1,734,694 official time hours, and while it represents 19.6 percent of all Federal bargaining unit employees, it accounts for 44.8 percent of all reported official time hours. Twenty-one agencies, encompassing 342,044 bargaining unit employees, reported an official time rate of between 2 and 5 hours per bargaining unit employee. These agencies employ 32.8 percent of all bargaining unit employees, and their total 1,354,557 official time hours represent 35 percent of all reported official time hours. Twenty-three agencies, encompassing 496,721 bargaining unit employees, reported rates from 0 to 2 hours per bargaining unit employee and a total of 781,209 official time hours. This group represents 47.6 percent of all bargaining unit employees and 20.9 percent of all reported official time hours. The table on the next page lists the per capita official time rates for each agency in FY 2004.
Official Time Rates - FY 2004
Departments/Agencies | Official Time Rate | Departments/Agencies | Official Time Rate |
Broadcasting Board |
12.6 |
|
|
AID |
2.2 |
|
|
NLRB |
11.7 |
|
|
FDIC |
2.2 |
|
|
EEOC |
11.6 |
|
|
SEC |
2.1 |
|
|
Transportation |
11.2 |
|
|
Energy |
1.9 |
|
|
African Development Foundation |
10.2 |
|
|
NTSB |
1.9 |
|
|
Court Svc. & Offender Supervision |
8.5 |
|
|
FTC |
1.8 |
|
|
Labor |
8.2 |
|
|
NSF |
1.8 |
|
|
Railroad Retirement Board |
7.9 |
|
|
Defense |
1.6 |
|
|
Treasury |
7.7 |
|
|
HHS |
1.6 |
|
|
SSA |
7.5 |
|
|
Corporation for National Service |
1.5 |
|
|
Justice |
4.8 |
|
|
ITC |
1.5 |
|
|
VA |
4.8 |
|
|
NASA |
1.4 |
|
|
OPM |
4.3 |
|
|
Interior |
1.0 |
|
|
GSA |
4.2 |
|
|
Natl. Endowment for the Humanities |
1.0 |
|
|
MSPB |
4.1 |
|
|
Smithsonian Institution |
1.0 |
|
|
Education |
4.0 |
|
|
Export-Import Bank |
0.9 |
|
|
GPO |
3.5 |
|
|
State |
0.6 |
|
|
HUD |
3.2 |
|
|
PBGC |
0.5 |
|
|
FEC |
3.1 |
|
|
CPSC |
0.4 |
|
|
Agriculture |
3.0 |
|
|
FCC |
0.4 |
|
|
Commerce |
3.0 |
|
|
CFTC |
0.2 |
|
|
Homeland Security |
3.0 |
|
|
FERC |
0.2 |
|
|
NARA |
2.8 |
|
|
Armed Forces Retirement Home |
0.1 |
|
|
National Gallery of Art |
2.8 |
|
|
FMCS |
0.0 |
|
|
SBA |
2.6 |
|
|
Holocaust Memorial Museum |
0.0 |
|
|
OPIC |
2.5 |
|
|
Natl. Credit Union Association |
0.0 |
|
|
EPA |
2.4 |
|
|
NRC |
2.3 |
|
|
Governmentwide Average |
3.7 |
|
|
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Categories
Agencies reported categories of official time for the first time in FY 2004. As noted above, several agencies identified transition issues related to setting up internal tracking systems to meet the new reporting requirement. A few other agencies reported transition issues related to preparing their systems for integration with the e-Payroll Initiations. The two transitions interrelate, since the system upgrades that allow categorical data collection also help prepare the systems for e-Payroll integration.
The General Labor-Management Relations category accounted for the greatest share of governmentwide official time hours. Overall, departments and agencies reported 2,535,372 hours in this category, which represents 65.5 percent of all reported hours. The 827,966 hours reported in the Dispute Resolution category make up 21.4 percent of total official time hours. Taken together, the Term and Mid-Term Negotiations categories represented only 12.9 percent of total hours, with 129,023 hours expended on term negotiations and 371,965 on mid-term negotiations. However, for those agencies involved in term and mid-term negotiations during the year, these reporting categories tended to dominate. The time reported by agencies and departments for FY 2004 in the four reporting categories is shown in the table on the next page.
Official Time Categories - FY 2004
Cabinet Departments | Term Negotiations | Mid-Term Negotiations | Dispute Resolution | General Labor-Management Relations | Other[2] | Total Official Time Hours |
Agriculture |
3,367 |
2,639 |
15,816 |
98,822 |
|
120,644 |
Commerce |
10,785 |
4,961 |
13,612 |
14,918 |
|
44,276 |
Defense |
22,122 |
129,884 |
370,684 |
145,414 |
|
668,104 |
Education |
590 |
949 |
4,190 |
7,385 |
|
13,114 |
Energy |
807 |
205 |
2,730 |
9,990 |
|
13,731 |
HHS |
763 |
6,245 |
13,252 |
26,148 |
|
46,407 |
Homeland Security |
6,153 |
13,391 |
94,699 |
31,410 |
|
145,653 |
HUD |
0 |
8,016 |
1,253 |
14,017 |
|
23,286 |
Interior |
3,029 |
783 |
3,414 |
15,243 |
|
22,468 |
Justice |
28,558 |
2,126 |
14,395 |
75,513 |
|
120,591 |
Labor |
13,061 |
6,928 |
19,315 |
53,707 |
|
93,011 |
State |
0 |
815 |
3,324 |
4,099 |
|
8,238 |
Transportation |
4,415 |
24,173 |
18,734 |
399,623 |
5,434 |
452,379 |
Treasury |
326 |
20,611 |
26,228 |
688,401 |
|
735,566 |
VA |
8,797 |
20,664 |
103,258 |
639,684 |
|
772,403 |
Major Agencies |
AID |
0 |
214 |
1,069 |
2,992 |
|
4,275 |
EEOC |
0 |
2,401 |
4,803 |
16,809 |
|
24,013 |
EPA |
930 |
1,698 |
9,069 |
18,746 |
|
30,442 |
FDIC |
210 |
189 |
2,211 |
7,028 |
|
9,637 |
GSA |
723 |
3,076 |
10,799 |
16,805 |
|
31,402 |
GPO |
1,426 |
918 |
5,088 |
170 |
|
7,602 |
NARA |
0 |
321 |
498 |
5,885 |
|
6,704 |
NASA |
662 |
1,113 |
3,425 |
9,245 |
|
14,444 |
NRC |
0 |
134 |
1,298 |
3,043 |
|
4,475 |
OPM |
0 |
1,071 |
564 |
5,830 |
|
7,465 |
SBA |
0 |
0 |
2,525 |
3,221 |
|
5,746 |
SEC |
0 |
678 |
2,263 |
1,584 |
|
4,525 |
Smithsonian Institution |
0 |
0 |
500 |
2,087 |
|
2,587 |
SSA |
9,832 |
108,441 |
68,950 |
201,232 |
|
388,455 |
All Other Agencies |
12,468 |
9,324 |
10,002 |
16,323 |
10 |
48,816 |
Governmentwide |
129,023 |
371,965 |
827,966 |
2,535,372 |
5,444 |
3,870,460 |
% of All Official Time Hours |
3.3% |
9.6% |
21.4% |
65.5% |
0.1% |
|
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Cost
We estimated agency official time costs using OPM’s Central Personnel Data File (CPDF) FY 2004 wage data except where we note otherwise in the tables provided in the Appendix. The CPDF data generates an average agency bargaining unit hourly wage that we multiplied by the number of reported official time hours to calculate agency official time costs. Some agencies reported official time costs with their survey responses, and we used the agency numbers in those cases. Governmentwide estimated costs decreased significantly in tandem with the reported decrease in total official time hours. While total hours declined by18 percent overall, costs declined 15.4 percent. Overall FY 2004 official time estimated costs were $108,122,004, as compared to $127,877,794 in FY 2003. The following table displays these cost figures by agency for FYs 2002, 2003, and 2004.
Official Time Costs - FYs 2004, 2003, 2002
Cabinet Departments | FY 2004 | FY 2003 | FY 2002 |
Agriculture |
2,516,529 |
2,663,648 |
2,422,075 |
Commerce |
1,259,801 |
1,280,415 |
1,224,152 |
Defense |
16,385,813 |
28,318,283 |
29,175,228 |
Education |
446,513 |
473,939 |
502,092 |
Energy |
509,387 |
807,612 |
575,142 |
HHS |
1,465,508 |
1,363,185 |
1,468,778 |
Homeland Security |
3,491,681 |
3,580,949 |
n/a |
HUD[3] |
742,426 |
896,653 |
621,160 |
Interior |
517,980 |
615,342 |
704,707 |
Justice |
3,069,743 |
2,195,055 |
3,678,413 |
Labor1 |
3,473,627 |
3,008,375 |
2,721,938 |
State |
263,501 |
412,646 |
271,052 |
Transportation |
19,375,306 |
27,725,746 |
29,559,382 |
Treasury |
18,869,390 |
18,517,651 |
19,628,768 |
VA |
18,826,209 |
18,482,152 |
16,859,148 |
Major Agencies |
AID |
175,546 |
187,902 |
184,376 |
EPA |
1,152,767 |
1,895,742 |
1,881,187 |
EEOC |
787,857 |
558,878 |
356,200 |
FDIC |
416,036 |
378,635 |
538,288 |
GSA |
952,8774 |
1,171,535 |
1,090,906 |
GPO |
195,530 |
239,635 |
305,675 |
NASA |
589,091 |
452,640 |
496,766 |
NARA |
133,750 |
116,877 |
n/a |
NRC |
192,107 |
215,182 |
203,901 |
OPM |
162,001 |
142,778 |
174,568 |
SEC |
224,188 |
143,050 |
181,880 |
SBA |
145,523 |
182,574 |
152,306 |
Smithsonian Institution |
62,544 |
n/a |
n/a |
SSA |
10,087,691 |
10,389,034 |
10,267,187 |
All Other Agencies |
1,621,853 |
1,461,683 |
1,530,649 |
Governmentwide Costs |
$108,122,004 |
$127,877,794 |
$126,775,924 |
% Decrease/Increase |
-15.4% |
0.1 % |
|
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Conclusion
Departments and agencies reported a total of 3,870,460 official time hours in FY 2004. This represents a substantial 18.0 percent single-year decrease. The average governmentwide official time rate was 3.7 hours per bargaining unit employee, with agency rates ranging between zero and 12.6 hours per unit employee. Twenty-three agencies, accounting for 47.6 percent of all bargaining unit employees, reported rates from zero to two hours per bargaining unit employees. Agencies reported categories of official time for the first time in FY 2004, and several noted transition issues in setting up their internal tracking systems to meet the new reporting requirement. The greatest share of governmentwide official time hours—65.5 percent— was used for general labor-management relations activities, and the departments and agencies reported 2,535,372 hours in this category. Governmentwide estimated costs decreased significantly in tandem with the reported decrease in total official time hours. Estimated FY 2004 official time costs were $108,658,171 as compared to $127,877,794 in FY 2003.
Finally, some agencies expressed concerns about data reliability related to their tracking system redesign and the transitioning to categorical reporting. While efforts to update their systems may have impacted the integrity of the official time numbers reported for FY 2004, those same efforts should ensure a smoother transition in the upcoming integration with the e-Payroll Initiative and its automated time and attendance-based official time data collection system. When that is completed, the data reported should be more reliable and give agencies greater confidence that large changes in their official time usage from one year to the next are truly significant and not attributable to problems in their data collection and reporting systems.
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Appendix - Tables and Attachment
TABLE 1 - OFFICIAL TIME SURVEY RESPONSES AND RELATED DATA-FY2004
Departments & Agencies | # of Bargaining Unit Employees | Official Time Categories | Total Official Time Hours | Official Time Rate | Estimated Annual Cost |
Term Negotiations | Mid-Term Negotiations | Dispute Resolution | General Labor-Management Relations | Other |
African Development Foundation |
15 |
35 |
10 |
33 |
76 |
|
0153 |
10.2 |
6,999 |
Agency for Intl. Development |
1,947 |
0 |
214 |
1,069 |
2,992 |
|
4,275 |
2.2 |
175,546 |
Agriculture |
40,869 |
3,367 |
2,639 |
15,816 |
98,822 |
|
120,644 |
3.0 |
2,516,529 |
Armed Forces Retirement Home |
516 |
36 |
|
|
24 |
|
60 |
0.1 |
1,094 |
Broadcasting Board of Governors |
1,210 |
9,400 |
975 |
1,955 |
2,860 |
|
15,190 |
12.6 |
514,583 |
Commerce |
14,977 |
10,785 |
4,961 |
13,612 |
14,918 |
|
44,276 |
3.0 |
1,259,801 |
Commodity Futures Trading Commission[1] |
130 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
31 |
|
31 |
0.2 |
1,421 |
Consumer Product Safety Commission |
365 |
40 |
4 |
4 |
100 |
|
147 |
0.4 |
5,201 |
Corporation for National Service |
406 |
5 |
219 |
154 |
216 |
|
594 |
1.5 |
16,633 |
Court Services & Offender Supervision Agency for D.C.[2] |
371 |
2,124 |
990 |
0 |
40 |
|
3,154 |
8.5 |
84,001 |
Defense |
405,995 |
22,122 |
129,884 |
370,684 |
145,414 |
|
668,104 |
1.6 |
16,385,813 |
Education |
3,287 |
590 |
949 |
4,190 |
7,385 |
|
13,114 |
4.0 |
446,513 |
Energy |
7,071 |
807 |
205 |
2,730 |
9,990 |
|
13,731 |
1.9 |
509,387 |
Environmental Protection Agency |
12,519 |
930 |
1,698 |
9,069 |
18,746 |
|
30,442 |
2.4 |
1,152,767 |
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission |
2,075 |
0 |
2,401 |
4,803 |
16,809 |
|
24,013 |
11.6 |
787,857 |
Export-Import Bank |
91 |
|
|
|
70 |
10 |
80 |
0.9 |
2,915 |
Federal Communications Commission |
1,379 |
0 |
105 |
173 |
278 |
|
556 |
0.4 |
22,290 |
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. |
4,349 |
210 |
189 |
2,211 |
7,028 |
|
9,637 |
2.2 |
416,036 |
Federal Election Commission[2] |
225 |
|
|
|
|
|
689 |
3.1 |
21,471 |
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission |
884 |
27 |
0 |
53 |
126 |
|
206 |
0.2 |
8,509 |
Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service |
38 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
Federal Trade Commission |
450 |
756 |
0 |
24 |
42 |
|
822 |
1.8 |
32,046 |
General Services Administration |
7,459 |
723 |
3,076 |
10,799 |
16,805 |
|
31,402 |
4.2 |
952,877 |
Government Printing Office |
2,193 |
1,426 |
918 |
5,088 |
170 |
|
7,602 |
3.5 |
195,530 |
Health & Human Services |
28,494 |
763 |
6,245 |
13,252 |
26,148 |
|
46,407 |
1.6 |
1,465,508 |
Holocaust Memorial Museum |
12 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
Homeland Security[1] |
48,862 |
6,153 |
13,391 |
94,699 |
31,410 |
|
145,653 |
3.0 |
3,491,681 |
Housing & Urban Development[3] |
7,195 |
0 |
8,016 |
1,253 |
14,017 |
|
23,286 |
3.2 |
742,426 |
Interior |
21,911 |
3,029 |
783 |
3,414 |
15,243 |
|
22,468 |
1.0 |
517,980 |
International Trade Commission |
266 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
403 |
|
403 |
1.5 |
15,894 |
Justice |
24,884 |
28,558 |
2,126 |
14,395 |
75,513 |
|
120,591 |
4.8 |
3,069,743 |
Labor[3] |
11,380 |
13,061 |
6,928 |
19,315 |
53,707 |
|
93,011 |
8.2 |
3,473,627 |
Merit Systems Protection Board |
88 |
0 |
0 |
121 |
243 |
|
364 |
4.1 |
15,719 |
NASA |
10,579 |
662 |
1,113 |
3,425 |
9,245 |
|
14,444 |
1.4 |
589,091 |
National Archives & Records Adm.[1] |
2,353 |
0 |
321 |
498 |
5,885 |
|
6,704 |
2.8 |
133,750 |
National Credit Union Association |
800 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
16 |
|
20 |
0.0 |
457 |
Natl. Endowment for the Humanities |
113 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
112 |
|
112 |
1.0 |
3,687 |
National Gallery of Art |
369 |
45 |
2 |
708 |
275 |
|
1,030 |
2.8 |
22,227 |
National Labor Relations Board[1] |
1,269 |
0 |
5,976 |
3,024 |
5,857 |
|
14,857 |
11.7 |
519,938 |
National Science Foundation |
788 |
0 |
433 |
327 |
674 |
|
1,434 |
1.8 |
56,524 |
National Transportation Safety Board |
275 |
0 |
9 |
52 |
453 |
|
514 |
1.9 |
20,073 |
Nuclear Regulatory Commission |
1,974 |
0 |
134 |
1,298 |
3,043 |
|
4,475 |
2.3 |
192,107 |
Office of Personnel Management[1] |
1,717 |
0 |
1,071 |
564 |
5,830 |
|
7,465 |
4.3 |
162,001 |
Overseas Private Investment Corp. |
92 |
0 |
0 |
156 |
78 |
|
234 |
2.5 |
8,460 |
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. |
508 |
0 |
117 |
134 |
0 |
|
251 |
0.5 |
8,330 |
Railroad Retirement Board |
998 |
0 |
480 |
3,086 |
4,350 |
|
7,916 |
7.9 |
233,381 |
Securities and Exchange Commission |
2,198 |
0 |
678 |
2,263 |
1,584 |
|
4,525 |
2.1 |
224,188 |
Small Business Administration |
2,237 |
0 |
0 |
2,525 |
3,221 |
|
5,746 |
2.6 |
154,752 |
Smithsonian Institution[1] |
2,714 |
0 |
0 |
500 |
2,087 |
|
2,587 |
1.0 |
62,544 |
Social Security Administration[1] |
51,728 |
9,832 |
108,441 |
68,950 |
201,232 |
|
388,455 |
7.5 |
10,087,691 |
State |
12,936 |
0 |
815 |
3,324 |
4,099 |
|
8,238 |
0.6 |
263,501 |
Transportation |
40,276 |
4,415 |
24,173 |
18,734 |
399,623 |
5,434 |
452,379 |
11.2 |
19,375,306 |
Treasury |
95,493 |
326 |
20,611 |
26,228 |
688,401 |
|
735,566 |
7.7 |
18,869,390 |
Veterans Affairs |
162,240 |
8,797 |
20,664 |
103,258 |
639,684 |
|
772,403 |
4.8 |
18,826,209 |
Governmentwide |
1,043,570 |
129,023 |
371,965 |
827,966 |
2,535,372 |
5,444 |
3,870,460 |
3.7 |
$ 108,122,004 |
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TABLE 2 - OFFICIAL TIME HOURS, RATES & ESTIMATED COST-FYs 2004, 2003, 2002
| FY 2004 | FY 2003 | FY 2002 |
Departments & Agencies | Bargaining Unit Employees | Official Time Hours | Official Time Rate | Estimated Annual Cost | Official Time Hours | Official Time Rate | Estimated Annual Cost | Official Time Hours | Official Time Rate | Estimated Annual Cost |
African Development Foundation[4] |
15 |
153 |
10.2 |
6,999 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Agency for Intl. Development |
1,947 |
4,275 |
2.2 |
175,546 |
4,680 |
2.4 |
187,902 |
4,680 |
2.4 |
184,376 |
Agriculture[5] |
40,869 |
120,644 |
3.0 |
2,516,529 |
126,419 |
2.9 |
2,663,648 |
127,188 |
2.9 |
2,422,075 |
Armed Forces Retirement Home |
516 |
60 |
0.1 |
1,094 |
424 |
0.8 |
7,365 |
259 |
0.5 |
4,288 |
Broadcasting Board of Governors |
1,210 |
15,190 |
12.6 |
514,583 |
9,050 |
7.5 |
292,768 |
8,431 |
6.7 |
258,893 |
Commerce[6] |
14,977 |
44,276 |
3.0 |
1,259,801 |
46,191 |
3.1 |
1,280,415 |
47,238 |
2.7 |
1,224,152 |
Commission on Civil Rights[4] |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Commodity Futures Trading Commission[7] |
130 |
31 |
0.2 |
1,421 |
168 |
1.0 |
6,992 |
139 |
0.9 |
4,296 |
Consumer Product Safety Commission |
365 |
147 |
0.4 |
5,201 |
378 |
1.0 |
12,818 |
350 |
1.0 |
11,358 |
Corporation for National Service |
406 |
594 |
1.5 |
16,633 |
846 |
2.1 |
22,944 |
980 |
2.40 |
25,528 |
Court Services & Offender Supervision Agency for D.C.[7] |
371 |
3,154 |
8.5 |
84,001 |
1,986 |
6.1 |
49,802 |
2,003 |
11.9 |
48,545 |
Defense |
405,995 |
668,104 |
1.6 |
16,385,813 |
1,199,419 |
3.0 |
28,318,283 |
1,301,718 |
3.2 |
29,175,228 |
Education |
3,287 |
13,114 |
4.0 |
446,513 |
14,538 |
4.4 |
473,939 |
16,373 |
5.0 |
502,092 |
Energy |
7,071 |
13,731 |
1.9 |
509,387 |
22,885 |
3.2 |
807,612 |
17,400 |
2.5 |
575,142 |
Environmental Protection Agency |
12,519 |
30,442 |
2.4 |
1,152,767 |
52,441 |
4.2 |
1,895,742 |
54,740 |
4.4 |
1,881,187 |
EEOC |
2,075 |
24,013 |
11.6 |
787,857 |
17,810 |
8.6 |
558,878 |
12,238 |
5.9 |
356,200 |
Export-Import Bank[4] |
91 |
80 |
0.9 |
2,915 |
|
|
|
8 |
0.1 |
246 |
Federal Communications Commission |
1,379 |
556 |
0.4 |
22,290 |
4,187 |
3.0 |
159,064 |
4,518 |
3.3 |
162,548 |
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. |
4,349 |
9,637 |
2.2 |
416,036 |
9,104 |
2.1 |
378,635 |
13,636 |
3.1 |
538,288 |
Federal Election Commission |
225 |
689 |
3.1 |
21,471 |
689 |
3.1 |
20,381 |
689 |
3.1 |
18,820 |
FEMA[8] |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4,448 |
3.9 |
99,945 |
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission |
884 |
206 |
0.2 |
8,509 |
152 |
0.2 |
6,147 |
624 |
0.7 |
23,763 |
Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service |
38 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
Federal Trade Commission |
450 |
822 |
1.8 |
32,046 |
466 |
1.0 |
17,018 |
577 |
1.3 |
16,847 |
General Services Administration[9] |
7,459 |
31,402 |
4.2 |
952,877 |
40,877 |
5.0 |
1,171,535 |
41,606 |
5.0 |
1,090,906 |
Government Printing Office[6] |
2,193 |
7,602 |
3.5 |
195,530 |
9,785 |
4.5 |
239,635 |
13,108 |
5.4 |
305,675 |
Health & Human Services |
28,494 |
46,407 |
1.6 |
1,465,508 |
46,194 |
1.7 |
1,363,185 |
54,289 |
1.9 |
1,468,778 |
Holocaust Memorial Museum[4] |
12 |
0 |
0.0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Homeland Security[10] |
48,862 |
145,653 |
3.0 |
3,491,681 |
156,510 |
3.4 |
3,580,949 |
|
|
|
Housing & Urban Development[11] |
7,195 |
23,286 |
3.2 |
742,426 |
27,471 |
3.7 |
896,653 |
20,062 |
2.8 |
621,160 |
Interior |
21,911 |
22,468 |
1.0 |
517,980 |
26,754 |
1.2 |
615,342 |
33,669 |
1.5 |
704,707 |
International Boundary & Water Commission[4] |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
International Trade Commission |
266 |
403 |
1.5 |
15,894 |
231 |
0.9 |
8,637 |
108 |
0.4 |
3,848 |
Justice |
24,884 |
120,591 |
4.8 |
3,069,743 |
90,072 |
3.6 |
2,195,055 |
164,504 |
3.1 |
3,678,413 |
Labor[12] |
11,380 |
93,011 |
8.2 |
3,473,627 |
89,714 |
7.6 |
3,008,375 |
98,340 |
8.2 |
2,721,938 |
Merit Systems Protection Board |
88 |
364 |
4.1 |
15,719 |
769 |
8.7 |
31,506 |
852 |
9.7 |
33,091 |
National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
10,579 |
14,444 |
1.4 |
589,091 |
11,672 |
1.1 |
452,640 |
13,620 |
1.3 |
496,766 |
National Archives and Records Administration[7] |
2,353 |
6,704 |
2.8 |
133,750 |
6,165 |
2.9 |
116,877 |
|
|
|
National Credit Union Assn.[12] |
800 |
20 |
0.0 |
457 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
National Endowment for the Humanities |
113 |
112 |
1.0 |
3,687 |
125 |
1.1 |
3,958 |
204 |
1.8 |
5,996 |
National Gallery of Art |
369 |
1,030 |
2.8 |
22,227 |
1,585 |
4.3 |
32,493 |
1,644 |
4.5 |
33,291 |
National Labor Relations Board[7] |
1,269 |
14,857 |
11.7 |
519,938 |
14,016 |
10.5 |
465,191 |
15,854 |
11.9 |
504,828 |
National Science Foundation |
788 |
1,434 |
1.8 |
56,524 |
1,920 |
2.4 |
70,176 |
2,004 |
2.5 |
69,628 |
National Transportation Safety Board[4] |
275 |
514 |
1.9 |
20,073 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nuclear Regulatory Commission |
1,974 |
4,475 |
2.3 |
192,107 |
5,214 |
2.6 |
215,182 |
5,173 |
2.6 |
203,901 |
Office of Personnel Management[7] |
1,717 |
7,465 |
4.3 |
162,001 |
6,738 |
4.3 |
142,778 |
8,733 |
5.6 |
174,568 |
Overseas Private Investment Corp. |
92 |
234 |
2.5 |
8,460 |
100 |
1.1 |
3,440 |
40 |
0.4 |
1,292 |
Peace Corps[4] |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.[4] |
508 |
251 |
0.5 |
8,330 |
813 |
1.6 |
25,691 |
|
|
|
Presidio Trust[4] |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Railroad Retirement Board |
998 |
7,916 |
7.9 |
233,381 |
7,992 |
8.0 |
225,294 |
7,692 |
7.7 |
203,598 |
Securities and Exchange Commission |
2,198 |
4,525 |
2.1 |
224,188 |
3,122 |
1.4 |
143,050 |
4188 |
1.9 |
181,880 |
Small Business Administration |
2,237 |
5,746 |
2.6 |
154,752 |
6,495 |
2.9 |
182,574 |
5,762 |
2.6 |
152,306 |
Smithsonian Institution[7] |
2,714 |
2,587 |
1.0 |
62,544 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Social Security Administration |
51,728 |
388,455 |
7.5 |
10,087,691 |
420,779 |
8.2 |
10,389,034 |
431,316 |
8.4 |
10,267,187 |
State |
12,936 |
8,238 |
0.6 |
263,501 |
13,192 |
1.0 |
412,646 |
8,917 |
0.7 |
271,052 |
Trade and Development Agency[4] |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Transportation |
40,276 |
452,379 |
11.2 |
19,375,306 |
682,228 |
16.9 |
27,725,746 |
803,475 |
18.2 |
29,559,382 |
Treasury |
95,493 |
735,566 |
7.7 |
18,869,390 |
748,793 |
7.6 |
18,517,651 |
846,910 |
7.2 |
19,628,768 |
Veterans Affairs |
162,240 |
772,403 |
4.8 |
18,826,209 |
791,188 |
4.9 |
18,482,152 |
756,407 |
4.7 |
16,859,148 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Governmentwide |
1,043,570 |
3,870,460 |
3.7 |
$108,122,004 |
4,722,347 |
4.5 |
$127,877,794 |
4,956,715 |
4.7 |
$126,775,924 |
[1] FY 2004 bargaining unit number submitted with agency survey response.
[2] No categories of use reported, only total official time hours.
[3] FY 2004 bargaining unit and cost numbers submitted with agency survey response.
[4] Blank spaces indicate no survey response.
[5] FY 2003 data continued to include the Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), although the bargaining unit moved to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in that year. FY 2004 data reflects the move and excludes APHIS.
[6] FY 2003 bargaining unit numbers were provided by agency as part of their survey response.
[7] FY 2004 bargaining unit numbers were provided by agency as part of their survey response.
[8] FEMA was consolidated into the Department of Homeland Security in 2003.
[9] FY 2003 data continued to include the Federal Protective Service (FPS), although the bargaining unit moved to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in that year. FY 2004 data reflects the move and excludes FPS.
[10] FY 2004 bargaining unit numbers were provided by agency as part of their survey response. FY 2003 data did not include APHIS & FPS, which were reported with their legacy agencies: Agriculture and GSA respectively. Department was created in 2003.
[11] FY 2004 bargaining unit numbers were provided by agency as part of their survey response. FY 2004 & 2003 costs provided by agency.
[12] Bargaining unit first certified in 2004.
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Attachment 1
MEMORANDUM FOR DEPARTMENT AND AGENCY HUMAN RESOURCE DIRECTORS
From:
ANA MAZZI (signed January 24, 2005)
Deputy Associate Director
Center for Workforce Relations and Accountability Policy
Subject:
Guidance for Reporting Fiscal Year 2004 Union Official Time Data
The attached December 8, 2004, memorandum to the heads of executive departments and agencies from Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Kay Coles James served as the official call for reporting Fiscal Year 2004 union official time data. Director James also advised that specific guidance would be forthcoming under separate cover. This memorandum fulfills that commitment and transmits the guidance for reporting FY 2004 official time data.
OPM initiated annual official time data collection and reporting in 2002. We are now initiating our third annual survey of agencies with the attached guidance. The information and data will be consolidated into a single OPM report on official time usage in the Federal government in
FY 2004. We are asking agencies to submit the FY 2004 data to OPM no later than March 4, 2005.
There is one major change in this year’s information request as compared to previous years. Note that Director James notified departments and agencies of this change by memo on November 3, 2003 to allow sufficient time to adjust official time tracking systems. This year, we ask that official time hours be reported according to four categories, based on the activities for which the hours were used. The four reporting categories are: term negotiations, mid-term negotiations, dispute resolution, and general labor-relations activities. More detailed descriptions of the categories appear in the attached guidance.
Questions specific to this year’s data call or the attached reporting guidance should be directed to Paula Lucak of my staff at paula.lucak@opm.gov or 202-606-2172.
Let me take this opportunity to thank you for your consistent attention and response to our annual calls for official time data. If you have questions beyond the specifics of the official time guidance and report, please feel free to contact me at 202-606-2930.
Attachments
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