AWOL Employees: A Union Responds

Colleen M. Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, has emailed her response to the story we posted Friday on an alleged rise in federal employees who skip work without taking leave. Here it is:

Gov Exec’s August 24 story (“Unexcused employees absences on the rise, senator says”) used data from Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma that is clearly politically-drivenâ€"as well as speculative and unsupported.

The broad extrapolations and innuendoes in the Coburn document are designed to reach a pre-determined conclusion that federal employees are not doing their jobs for the public. Any such conclusion is baseless.

The long-standing commitment and dedication to duty of federal workers is well-documented and widely-credited with having direct and positive impacts on the lives of all Americans. Federal employees are known go the extra mile in service of their country, and they do so because of the pride they have in their work.