Federal agencies should allow employees who are members of the National Guard or the Reserves to conduct Guard or Reserve business at work, the Comptroller General has recommended.
In a recent letter to the Office of Personnel Management, Robert P. Murphy, general counsel for the Comptroller General, said federal law permits federal employees to perform Guard or Reserve business on official time. Employees should limit such activities to a reasonable amount of time, he said.
"All agencies would appear to have some interest in furthering the governmental purpose of, and national interest in, the Guard and Reserves," Murphy wrote. "Thus, some use of employee time and agency equipment to carry out limited, incidental Guard or Reserve functions falls within the parameters of activities that an agency may permit."
In January 1997, OPM advised the Department of Veterans Affairs that federal employees could not use official time and government equipment for National Guard or Reserve business.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., questioned OPM's opinion after one of her constituents, a private-sector employer and a Naval Reserve officer, complained about it. The officer said that his unit conducted a "recall drill," in which one of the unit officers calls each member of the unit. Each unit member then must report back by phone or fax to the Reserve center. The officer asked a fellow officer who worked for the federal government to run the drill. But the fellow officer was told that it would be unethical and illegal for him to use government phones for the drill.
OPM then asked the Defense Department's general counsel about the department's policy. DoD allows civilian employees who are guardsmen or reservists to use official time and government equipment for Guard or Reserve purposes. DoD also told OPM that the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Act of 1994, which encourages employers to support guardsmen and reservists, says that it "is the sense of Congress that the federal government should be the model employer in carrying out the provisions" of the act.
In addition, OPM regulations permit agencies to provide official support to professional associations and community groups. DoD noted that "it would be difficult for a federal agency to authorize support for a private organization, yet withhold similar support for its employees who are members of the Guard or Reserve."
In response to the comptroller general letter, OPM is changing its position, an OPM spokesman said.
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