HUD jobs to be reopened after improper postings

A federal arbitrator has ruled that the Department of Housing and Urban Development must reopen 17 information technology positions because the agency violated union rules when it selectively posted openings for the positions in 1997. The arbitrator's Feb. 26 ruling was the result of a grievance filed by the American Federation of Government Employees Local 476. The decision affects certain GS-12 to GS-14 positions in HUD's Office of Information Technology in Washington. "It seems clear that what took place was that a bunch of favorites were given job opportunities and promotions, and the collective bargaining agreement was ignored," said Eddie Eitches, president of Local 476. According to the grievance, HUD officials did not provide union officials with copies of the vacancy announcements, improperly restricted the applicant pool and advertised at only one agency location. When union officials met with HUD officials after becoming aware of the improper postings, they were told "these events have taken place and will not be changed." "This could have been corrected immediately and management declined to do so," said Holly Salamido, the attorney handling the case for the union. "There were a lot of people that were harmed by their inability to apply for these positions. We told them about it at the time [but] management didn't do anything about it." Now, HUD officials are required to re-post the 17 positions, raising questions about the fate of the employees currently holding the jobs. An agency spokeswoman said the ruling is under review and declined to comment further on the issue. "Management was informed about this at the time of the postings and they refused to remedy the situation and went ahead and posted those positions, so they are going to have to determine how they are going to be fair to those employees that were put in the positions," Salamido said. Eitches said he doesn't anticipate those employees being harmed by the arbitrator's ruling. "They may have to compete for those jobs, but I don't think that those people have anything to worry about," Eitches said. "They may not have the same job that they have now, but they will not suffer. It's management that will take the hit." The arbitrator's ruling did not set a date for the re-postings. Salamido said she expects it to happen sooner rather than later. "It's a mess and they should have dealt with it immediately," Eitches said.