Finally, Fair Pay for Long Term Higher-Graded Work

Federal employees sometimes get temporarily assigned to do higher-graded work because of retirements, staff vacancies or budgetary reasons. A new regulation that NTEU fought for ensures that these employees are paid fairly.

Acting on an NTEU petition, the Office of Personnel Management issued final regulations that remove a 120-day cap on back pay remedies for higher-graded work. The cap had been in place for two decades. Over the years, NTEU battled to right this wrong at arbitrations, before the Federal Labor Relations Authority and in contract negotiations.

“This OPM decision is huge,” said Chapter 49 (IRS Indiana) President Duncan Giles. “For far too many years, our employees have performed higher graded duties knowing that they wouldn't be compensated after 120 days, even though they were still performing the same work for months or even years after that.”

Jason Sisk, President of Chapter 97 (IRS Fresno Service Center) agreed, “We previously won an arbitration case on this matter only to have it overturned by the last administration’s appointees. This OPM regulation makes us better equipped to fight for employees and ensure they are properly paid.”

The new rule goes into effect on Aug. 26.