Federal employees that act as representatives of their unions may see another cut to their official time availability, as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has drafted a proposed rule that would exempt union representatives from official time guarantees in discrimination complaint proceedings.
Federal employees have a legally protected right to have one of their coworkers act as a representative when they file a discrimination complaint, and both are granted official time during work hours to prepare for the complaint.
At issue in the EEOC’s proposed change is two different uses of official time: the law uses the term both for employees preparing grievances and for union representatives conducting certain union business during work hours. The latter version is managed by collective bargaining agreements made between the agency and union.
“The Commission proposes to amend its regulation to clearly state that its official time provision does not apply if the representative serves in an official capacity in a labor organization that is an exclusive representative of employees at the agency,” the draft proposed rule states.
Federal unions have frequently argued that their need for official time is in part reliant on the fact that they frequently represent employees in discrimination or reprisal complaints.
“The EEOC has seen a noticeable uptick in the number of sexual harassment claims sparked by the #MeToo movement, yet somehow this administration believes federal employees need less help — not more — in fighting these and other discrimination cases,” Rachel Shonfield, president of American Federation of Government Employees Council 216, which represents EEOC employees, said in a news release.
“When employees are confronted with these sensitive issues at work, they must continue to have the unimpeded right to be accompanied and advised by a person they are comfortable with, which is the representative of their choice. Denying employees the ability to get representation from their union representative — a person they are aware is knowledgeable on representation and the process — sends exactly the wrong message.”
Notably, the proposed rule does not specify that union representative employees who are also acting as representatives of an employee in a discrimination complaint would use a different official time that is not subject to collective bargaining, but rather removes their ability to use that version of official time entirely.
“The EEOC’s sudden move to strip representatives of this long-held right simply because they serve in the union is disgraceful and, if allowed to take effect, will have a chilling effect on the ability of workers to successfully challenge workplace discrimination,” AFGE National Vice President for Women and Fair Practices Jeremy Lannan said in a statement.
Federal unions have already seen executive-mandated cuts to their collectively bargained official time, as a series of May 2018 executive orders called on agencies to renegotiate such contracts to ensure that any given employee can only use 25 percent of their work hours on official time.
Union officials have also noted that if their representatives are not given the official time necessary to represent employees that want their help in a complaint, the union will have failed to meet legal requirements that it represent all employees within its bargaining unit and could be brought before the Federal Labor Relations Authority.
