The Federal Service Impasses Panel wants to streamline the costs of processing case files by shifting primarily to electronic filing and allowing the in-person filing of forms and documents by appointment only. Rawf8 / Getty Images
Amid budget squeeze, FLRA panel regs encourage electronic documents filing
Less physical paper taken in by the board that settles bargaining-table disputes between unions and agencies will help streamline workloads as its parent agency reduces its office footprint due to budget woes.
The Federal Service Impasses Panel on Friday proposed new regulations “strongly encouraging” agencies and federal employee unions to submit paperwork online and requiring in-person submissions to be done by appointment only, a move that it says could ease staffing issues.
The Impasses Panel resolves disputes between labor organizations and federal agencies that come up in the context of collective bargaining negotiations and is housed within the Federal Labor Relations Authority. Although it is in the midst of a push to develop a fully electronic system for cataloging case files, it has continued to allow parties to submit their filings on paper.
But in a proposed rule published to the Federal Register Friday, the panel said it plans to make the in-person filing of forms and documents by appointment only. Officials argued that the move would further encourage agencies and unions to make filings electronically, but noted that the impetus for the decision is largely budgetary.
“Due primarily to budgetary constraints, the Federal Labor Relations Authority, including FSIP, is consolidating its office space [in] Washington, D.C., so that all of the offices currently on the second floor of that address will now be located on the third floor, along with the other FLRA offices that are already located on the third floor,” the panel wrote. “Additionally, as FSIP continues to move towards fully electronic case files, it wishes to strongly encourage parties to file any permissible documents through the eFiling system, and to implement a requirement that allows in-person filing of forms or documents in FSIP matters by permission only, at an appointed time.”
The news that the impasses panel’s parent agency is engaging in cost-cutting comes months after FLRA Chairwoman Susan Tsui Grundmann warned that the agency could institute furloughs if it does not receive additional funding in fiscal 2024 appropriations legislation.
The agency’s current annual funding level of $29.4 million is 1% lower than the $29.6 million the agency received two decades ago. While President Biden proposed a budget of $33.7 million for the FLRA for the current fiscal year, a draft House appropriations bill last year would have cut it further to $28 million.
In its proposal, the impasses panel said that by making in-person filing by appointment only, its staff of four employees would better be able to handle the panel’s workload, particularly if its headcount continues to wane.
“The proposed amendments would promote eFIling, and conserve FSIP staff’s time and efficiency by allowing staff members to accept documents after giving advance permission, and at specific appointed times,” the proposal states. “This arrangement will allow staff members to avoid remaining on constant stand-by for lengthy periods of time each week to accept forms and documents, thus losing opportunity to perform other critical tasks.”
The Impasses Panel is accepting comments on its plan between now and March 17.