We have appropriations through the end of the fiscal year (September 30, 2024)
President Biden signed a funding bill to keep the Department of the Interior (as well as some other agencies, but not all) funded through the end of the fiscal year.
Other agencies, including many NTEU represented agencies are still up-in-the-air. Appropriations run out on Friday March, 22nd.
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NPS Specific Plan
NTEU National Page on Shutdown
NTEU has launched a new webpage (recently updated) exclusively for members with news, information and FAQs on a government shutdown. We will update the page frequently with new information and resources as they become available.
Shutdown Deadline Approaches; NTEU Resource Page Updated
With government funding set to expire next Friday night and the absence of any agreement in Congress on a short- or long-term funding deal, a government shutdown remains possible.
If there is a lapse in appropriations, the government will close at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 18.
Similar to the events of late September during the last funding deadline, agencies are releasing details about their shutdown plans, including information about which employees will remain at work without pay, and which employees will be placed on unpaid furlough.
NTEU is providing a variety of shutdown-related resources for union members on our updated shutdown page, including links to agency shutdown plans and FAQs about how a shutdown impacts pay, leave, retirement, health insurance and more.
With only 8 days remaining for Congress to fund the government, progress on Capitol Hill has been minimal. The Senate has passed three of the 12 appropriation bills with strong bipartisan support and funding levels consistent with a separate bipartisan deal reached earlier this year. The House has passed seven of 12, but with significant cuts and controversial policy riders that do not have bipartisan support.
The lack of consensus on regular full-year funding means leaders are instead discussing various short-term funding plans, but there is still no agreement on the path forward. The Senate is expected to begin work on a continuing resolution that would maintain funding for another few weeks. House leadership has not settled on any specific short-term funding plan, but there is discussion about multiple expiration dates in December, January or February, which would force employees to revisit a potential shutdown every few weeks.
Either way, the stalemate seems destined to extend well into next week and very close to the Nov. 17 deadline.
Email your members of Congress and ask them to avoid a government shutdown.
FAQ about National Park Service and possible shutdown
Chapter 296 asked about plans for a possible shutdown. Here's the Q and A
[This Q/A is from an email received from Randy Ferrell to NTEU Chapter 296 on October 27th]
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1. What is the prognosis for continued FY 2024 funding/a government shutdown?
No clue. Clearly this is out of our control especially given the fact that there has been no movement on any appropriations matters without a speaker. This is up to Congress.
2. Can/will Management identify excepted and exempted employees now rather than waiting until the last moment before a government shutdown? This would give employees more time to plan their budgets and expenditures.
The NPS Contingency plan outlines who will be identified as excepted, exempted, and furloughed. Employees will receive notice of their respective status as soon as OMB clears us to do so. Unfortunately, we can make a final determination until such time as OMB provides the necessary clearance.
Designation of Activities During a Lapse
Excepted Activity - Obligations may be incurred for personnel performing excepted activities as described in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular No. A-11, including activities necessary to protect life and property, activities expressly authorized by law, and activities necessarily implied by law. NPS activities in this category include:
• Law enforcement and emergency response;
• Border and coastal protection and surveillance;
• Fire suppression for active fires or monitoring areas currently under a fire watch;
• Protection of federal lands, buildings, waterways, equipment, and other property within the National Park System, including research property;
• Activities essential to ensure continued public health and safety, including safe use of food and drugs and safe use of hazardous materials, drinking water, and sewage treatment operation;
• Activities that ensure production of power and maintenance of the power distribution system;
• Activities related to United States Park Police annuity benefits transfer (necessarily implied by law, 54 U.S.C. 103101(d));
• Activities related to facilitation of First Amendment activities including permitting and
monitoring (necessarily implied by law, U.S. Const, Amend I); and
• Activities necessary to oversee or support excepted or exempted activities, including budget, finance, procurement, communications, human resources, and information technology services. Activities necessary to oversee or support excepted or exempted activities, including budget, finance, procurement, communications, human resources, and information technology services.
Exempted Activity - Personnel performing activities that may be funded from available sources of funds may be authorized to carry out these functions, subject to the continued availability of funds. Such available sources of funds include permanent appropriations, unobligated balances brought forward in a no-year and multi-year appropriation, mandatory appropriations, allocations from other accounts, and some reimbursables. NPS may use the minimal level of FLREA funding necessary to provide critical health, public safety and protection services as an exempt activity in a manner that maintains restrooms and sanitation, trash collection, road maintenance, campground operations, law enforcement emergency operations, and the protection of park resources.
Some functions that begin as exempted may transition to excepted or furloughed status, and vice versa. Depending on funds availability, exempted activities may also include those typically funded by a lapsed appropriation that are necessary to oversee or support exempted activities, including budget and finance, procurement, communications, human resources, and information technology services.
3. What is the process for deciding who is exempted and who is excepted? What are the criteria for making the decision? Who makes the decision?
NPS Management will make the decision on employee status using the NPS Contingency Plan. The NPS Contingency plan outlines who will be identified as excepted, exempted, and furloughed. Employees will receive notice of their respective status as soon as OMB clears us to do so.
4. Government shutdown and Use or Lose -- I. If there is a government shutdown prior to the December deadline for locking in Use or Lose Annual Leave requests, will the deadline be extended?
Likely no extension of deadlines; however, leave canceled due to a government shutdown that is lost, could be eligible for restoration. OPM says, "Employees in this situation should make every effort to reschedule “use-or-lose” annual leave for use before the end of the current leave year. However, OPM and OMB have determined that a lapse in appropriations qualifies as an exigency of the public business for purposes of annual leave restoration. (See OPM, CPM 2019-02, Restoration of Annual Leave for Employees Affected by the Lapse in Appropriations (January 9, 2019).) Therefore, as long as the leave was properly scheduled in advance, agencies must restore any annual leave that was forfeited because of the lapse in appropriations—regardless of whether the affected employees were furloughed or excepted from the furlough."
5. Government shutdown and Use or Lose -- II. Will cancellation of approved leave due to a government shutdown be an acceptable rationale for restoration of lost leave? It should be.
Same response as above.
6. Government shutdown and Use or Lose -- III. During a government shutdown, may employees (furloughed, excepted, and exempted) use their government computers to apply for and their supervisors approve leave to be taken after the shutdown is over?
Leave requests should not be submitted during a government shutdown for excepted or furloughed employees. Exempted employees can request and take leave as they normally would.
7. Government shutdown and Use or Lose -- IV. During a government shutdown, may excepted and exempted employees apply for annual leave or sick leave to be taken during the shutdown? For example, doctor appointments, weddings, Covid vaccinations, adoptions funerals, etc.
During a lapse (shutdown) a furlough and/or excepted employee’s previously approved paid leave or other paid time off is cancelled. However, an agency may excuse an excepted employee from duty and place the employee in furlough status for approved periods. An agency may allow an excepted employee to be off duty during periods when the employee was previously scheduled to be on paid leave. Likewise, an employee who is required, but fails to report for duty during a lapse may be charged with AWOL.
8. Government shutdown and Open Seasons -- I. If there is a government shutdown during open season for health benefits or other benefits, will the open season be extended until a reasonable period after the end of the shutdown?
Unknown about extending open season. The NPS will continue to process FEHB and FEGLI transactions during a lapse in appropriations. So there shouldn't be an issue with an employee requesting a change during open season.
9. Government shutdown and Open Seasons -- II. If there is a government shutdown during open season for health benefits or other benefits, will all (including furloughed) employees be able to use their government computers to make open season related decisions/selections?
As of right now, we are not aware of a prohibition during a government shutdown of a furloughed employee using government furnished equipment for personal reasons like accessing their eOPF or employee express. Furloughed employees are prohibited from performing work.
10. Government shutdown and Performance Plans. If there is a government shutdown before the deadline for completing the FY 2024 Performance Plans, will that deadline be extended?
FY24 Performance Plans should be issued by the middle of next week, well in advance of the next potential government shutdown. Therefore, there is no extension needed. The completion of FY24 performance plans will stay on track for September 2024; there would be no need to extend the deadline to complete the plans.
11. Government shutdown and Required Training. If there is a government shutdown before the deadline for completing required training, will the deadline be extended?
If required training is set to expire during a shutdown, it seems logical that an extension be pursued. However, it is recommended that all such training be completed in advance so as to avoid this circumstance.
12. Government shutdown and deadlines specified in the CBA (Union Contract). If there is a government shutdown, can we assume correctly that the clock will stop automatically for any CBA/Union related deadlines?
Likely, yes. We can further discuss a moratorium on timelines for any pending issues as the deadline draws near.
13. A government shutdown is a change in the working environment. The Union would like to bargain on the impact and implementation of the shutdown. How can we get some pre-decisional involvement? The Union would have a position on all of the issues listed above and more.
The decision whether to furlough employees and which activities are excepted from a furlough are management rights that are not subject to bargaining. (See 5 U.S.C. 7106(a).)
However, if the NPS determines that a shutdown furlough is necessary, the NPS will notify exclusive representatives and, upon request, bargain over any negotiable impact and implementation proposals the union may submit, unless the matter of furloughs is already “covered by” a collective bargaining agreement. In the event of unforeseeable circumstances, such as sudden emergencies requiring immediate curtailment of activities due to a Government shutdown, whatever bargaining that can occur prior to taking action should occur to the extent possible before furlough actions are necessary. However, if agreement is not reached in the time allowed, the NPS will tell the union what actions it will take and offer to continue bargaining on a post implementation basis.
14. CBA Negotiations Update
The parties met the week of October 16, 2023 and continued negotiations. We have now TA’d 36 Articles, which includes several that will not be addressed and some that were either removed or incorporated into other articles, and we are very close on several more. Provided there is no furlough, the parties are scheduled to resume negotiations on December 4, 2023.
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NTEU will also email members regularly with breaking news and information on the shutdown and send notifications through the NTEU App. Accurate and timely information is critical during a government shutdown and NTEU is your best source.
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