Original judge in DHS labor case to keep jurisdiction

Judge Rosemary Collyer said Tuesday that she will retain jurisdiction in the Homeland Security Department's labor relations case if there is further litigation.

Collyer, who presides in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, was the first judge to issue a ruling in a series of decisions against two controversial new government labor relations systems. In August 2005, she termed the proposed DHS system of collective bargaining "illusory" because management could change an agreement after the fact.

Collyer's decision was soon followed by a ruling against the Defense Department's similar system, and then by an appeals court decision against DHS. Government officials subsequently passed up an option to appeal the DHS case to the Supreme Court; Defense is still waiting on its appeal.

In a meeting with attorneys representing the government and the federal employee unions who brought the lawsuit against DHS, Collyer asked DHS and Office of Personnel Management officials to provide her with a status report on creation of a new labor system in nine months.

Appellate judges went farther than Collyer and said DHS' system was illegal because it placed too tight a limit on the scope of issues over which unions could bargain.

The blows to DHS' labor system have a serious effect on the other personnel changes officials want to make, including the introduction of pay for performance, market-based pay and paybands. Without a new labor system, officials can not implement those changes for bargaining unit employees.

Union lawyers have said they are perched to sue again if they think the labor relations system is still illegal once DHS and OPM redesign it. One sticking point may be the Homeland Security Labor Relations Board, an internal review board that would replace the Federal Labor Relations Authority in deciding labor-management disputes. In the system Collyer enjoined, members of the board would be appointed and reappointed by the secretary of the department, which unions said would lead to bias.

Unions were pleased with Collyer's decision Tuesday. Both the National Treasury Employees Union and the American Federation of Government Employees released statements saying they now want to engage in real negotiations with DHS.

A DHS spokesman said the department "will continue to work with OPM, our components and the unions in an effort to move forward with creating a successful human capital system that meets the DHS mission."

Collyer was appointed to her judgeship by President Bush and has an extensive labor relations background, including time served at the National Labor Relations Board.