NTEU has filed three petitions with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) asking it to change its regulations to better protect employees’ rights and collective bargaining.

In March 2022, NTEU petitioned OPM to issue regulations that would allow COVID-infected employees who cannot report to work or telework to use weather and safety leave instead of their own personal leave. NTEU argued that federal employees who are unable to telework should not be penalized because they must stay away from the workplace to keep others safe.  

In July 2022, NTEU petitioned OPM to issue regulations that would require agencies to facilitate worker organizing by providing unions with access to bargaining unit employee work email addresses, new employee orientations, employee town halls, and government resources like electronic and physical bulletin boards. That way NTEU can communicate directly with employees about their rights and opportunities. 

In August 2022, NTEU petitioned OPM to revise its regulations as they relate to employees who temporarily perform higher-graded work but who are not always paid appropriately for that work. Managers sometimes assign employees higher-graded work—for months or even years—due to staffing shortages, budget constraints, or retirements. An OPM regulation stands in the way of employees being paid for their higher-graded work if it exceeds 120 days. NTEU’s petition asks OPM to change that regulation, so that employees may be compensated for all higher-graded work.   

NTEU’s petitions are an additional way we fight for employee and union rights. We will continue to push OPM to do the right thing and grant the petitions.