Telework negotiations break down between union and GSA

Union attempts to negotiate provisions of the General Service Administration's new telework policy broke down on Tuesday over disagreements about ground rules and use of official time by union representatives, said the National Federation of Federal Employees GSA National Council.

"They actually never really talked about the substance itself," said John Hanley, president of the council. "When they left, they said they were going to [the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service]. We had people flown in from Huntsville, Ala., to do this bargaining, so they basically wasted their time. Given that the panel has been very pro-management, they'll get the decision that they want."

The union had objected to a number of provisions in the agency's new telework policy, announced in April by former GSA chief Lurita A. Doan, who was an outspoken advocate of telework expansion in the federal government.

Under the new policy, GSA no longer will pay for broadband Internet access and other telecommunications systems at employees' homes, though it does allow for exemptions on a case-by-case basis. The policy also permits managers to suspend employees' telework privileges if their performance suffers or they receive a conduct violation. In addition, managers can take overall agency performance into consideration when deciding whether to terminate a telework agreement.

GSA requires employees to fill out telework plan forms, though they can decline to telework. Any employee could be required to work from home in cases of emergency.

Hanley says the conduct and performance rules are arbitrary, and the reimbursement provisions wipe out savings from eliminating commuting costs. GSA's new policy, however, establishes a fund to offset costs for employees who want to work in alternate locations.

"Maybe performance matters where telework is concerned, but maybe they should limit it to whether you get an annual appraisal that's not successful, but not day to day," Hanley said. "The same thing is true of conduct. If a manager accuses you of something, even if it's been grieved and is moving through the process, they can remove you from telework. We believe that only if a discipline is upheld should it affect you."

A GSA representative could not be reached for comment by the time this article was published. John Arnold, director of public affairs at FMCS, said the agency had no record of an arbitration request, but that it was possible GSA had reached out to other sources to bring in an arbitrator.