In preparation for the anticipated return of employees to their workplaces, NTEU continues to raise concerns and issues faced by frontline EPA employees during the coronavirus pandemic. We want to assure employees required to return to their worksites the safest possible return, while continuing to ensure teleworking employees have the support and equipment they need to effectively perform their jobs remotely.
Read MoreNTEU Demands Protections Before Reopening Federal Buildings
On April 27th, the National Treasury Employees Union released the health and safety conditions that must be met before federal employees are required to return to the workplace. “Most federal employees have never missed a beat during this pandemic, either successfully teleworking from home or continuing to report to duty because their job is not eligible for telework,” Reardon said. “But before those away from the office are required to return, NTEU will insist that some basic steps be taken to reduce the risks to their health and well-being.”
Read MoreNTEU is Sharing Our Members’ Stories . . . Tell Yours
NTEU's 'Telling Our Stories' campaign grew from the idea that our members do interesting and important work for our country—but it often goes unnoticed. We wanted to change that—and the best spokespeople to talk about your jobs are you!
Read MoreNTEU Sets Legislative Priorities for 2020
On Monday, January 13, 2020, NTEU legislative leaders from chapters across the country met to discuss NTEU’s legislative program and legislative agenda for the 2020 Legislative Conference. The following issues were selected as legislative priorities for 2020…
Read MoreA Historic Achievement: Paid Parental Leave for Federal Employees
The federal government will now be a more family-friendly employer with the historic approval of a paid parental leave program giving frontline civil servants the financial security to be at home during one of the most crucial times of their lives.
A 12-week paid parental leave program for federal employees is part of the defense policy bill that was signed into law on December 20, 2019. Starting October 1, 2020, federal employees will be able to use up to twelve weeks of paid leave for the birth, adoption or fostering of a child. The Office of Personnel Management is currently preparing draft implementing regulations, which the agency has indicated should be available for public comment in late spring.
Read MoreOPM Data Breach Lawsuit Update
NTEU continues to press its arguments that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) violated NTEU members’ constitutional right to informational privacy when it allowed a series of data breaches to occur, failing to protect the personal data of nearly 22 million federal employees. This litigation is an important fight for us. NTEU believes that OPM must answer for breaking its promise to federal employees about keeping our personal information safe from hackers.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed NTEU’s suit on September 19, 2017. The court ruled that NTEU members were not sufficiently injured by the data breaches. NTEU appealed this decision and will file its next brief on August 23, 2018. The Court will then set a date for oral argument.
NTEU Supports Federal Employees Under Attack
Federal employee rights and benefits are under attack.
The collective bargaining agreement at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) expired. HHS proposed to eliminate 21 entire articles from the contract, including articles governing alternative work schedules, telework, performance appraisals, awards, and transit subsidies. HHS also proposed to exclude over 40 subjects from the grievance procedure. After only 2 ½ days, the HHS "bargaining team" declared an impasse, ending the "bargaining." This dispute will likely come before the Federal Service Impasse Panel, the panel that resolves disputes between federal agencies and unions representing federal employees. The panel's members are appointed by the President.
NTEU is pursuing measures on Capitol Hill, such as filing a bad-faith bargaining unfair labor practice grievance, in addition to the pending executive order lawsuit.
HHS' proposals mirror those that were unilaterally implemented at the Department of Education. Other NTEU represented agencies could be next.
Rally Photo Gallery
Our members rallied on the U.S. Capitol grounds with other NTEU chapters. Below you can look through the photos. If you have other photos we can post, please email them to joe@nteu280.org.
NTEU National Offices Closed During Inauguration
Due to the very strict security constraints around H Street, N.W., NTEU National President Tony Reardon announced that NTEU's national offices will be closed on Thursday, January 19, and Friday, January 20.
The offices will reopen on Monday, January 23.
Open Season Ends December 12
Don't forget that "open season" for federal employees ends at midnight on Monday, December 12, 2016. Open season is the time when you can change your health, dental, and vision plans and create a healthcare flexible spending account without a qualifying life event. OPM has a countdown clock, along with more information on open season here.
NTEU members get FREE access to the awesome Washington Consumers' Checkbook Guide to Health Plans, which lets you see how the plans compare on price and features. If you want Guide access and have not yet joined, please contact NTEU Executive Vice President Amer Al-Mudallal directly at 202-566-2789 to process your membership form. Since Guide access is provided through NTEU's national website, and membership-form processing normally takes some time, we'll need to handle your form specially to ensure you get full access to the NTEU website before the deadline.
If you've already joined but still do not have access, please contact NTEU's national membership coordinator Margaret Allen at 202-572-5500, provide her your name and full social security number, and let her know that you need access soon to the NTEU website members-only materials.
In addition to the Guide to Health Plans, members also save money through a bunch of discounts provided by NTEU. If you take full advantage of these discounts, you can effectively offset the entire cost of your yearly membership. Click here to see a complete list of member benefits in this PDF.
Open Season & Consumers' CheckBook Guide to Health Plans
Become a member and get free access!
Don't forget that "open season" started this week. You can now change health, dental, and vision plans, and start, change, or end your federal savings account (FSA-Feds). You must make your selection by December 12, when open season ends. After that, you can only make changes with a "qualifying life event."
If you are a dues-paying member of NTEU, you get free access to the Washington Consumers' Checkbook's Guide to Health Plans by joining NTEU Chapter 280 at this page. Then, when you receive your NTEU membership number, get access to the free Guide to Health Plans benefit by clicking here.
If you're having problems getting access to the member's-only section of the NTEU.org website, it may be because NTEU does not have your social security number or has not yet issued a membership number. Please contact NTEU Membership Records Coordinator Margaret Allen at 202-572-5500, ext. 7004 to find out about your membership status and get access.
Why is NTEU Suing OPM?
Members periodically inquire about why NTEU is suing the U.S. Office of Personnel Management over the massive data breach, thought to be perpetrated by Chinese hackers. The lawsuit was filed to protect members’ constitutional right to informational privacy, which OPM violated by failing to properly secure the records, despite numerous warnings about security deficiencies from OPM’s inspector general.
How bad was the problem and what did OPM know and conceal? A House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform report, "accuses OPM of misleading the public and Congress about the breaches to play down the fallout — criticizing the agency for its claims that the two cyber attacks were not connected and not proactively announcing the first breach when it was uncovered in 2014," according to The Washington Post. The article also notes that the problem was imminently preventable, noting that "numerous inspector general reports ... raised the alarm about the agency's digital security before the hacks," according to The Post.
Among other relief requested by NTEU in its lawsuit, NTEU wants the court to order OPM to provide lifetime credit monitoring and identity theft protection for any NTEU member affected by the cyber attacks and to take corrective measures to improve its information technology security. Lifetime credit monitoring is the least the government should do for this instance of gross OPM negligence. We all devote our lives to protecting human health and the environment, so we should be able to expect that the Office of Personnel management is protecting our information, and if they aren't, that they take care of protecting us after the breach.
But OPM doesn't want to protect you. Rather than OPM stepping up and doing what's right and providing long-term credit monitoring, OPM is seeking to dismiss the NTEU lawsuit. Oral argument on the OPM Motion to Dismiss is scheduled oral argument for Oct. 27. More on the NTEU lawsuit here.