8/1/08: This week, the SEC filed with the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals a Petition for Review of NTEU's recent Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) victory in the 2002 within grade increase (WIGI) case. As a result of the SEC's decision to proceed in this fashion, this summer hundreds of the agency's own employees will not receive the back pay to which they are entitled as a result of the SEC's violation of federal labor law as determined by the FLRA. Instead, those employees will now be required to wait additional months for a final decision by the DC Circuit.

The SEC will be limited on appeal to the issues that it raised below, which have already been rejected both by Administrative Law Judge Richard Pearson and by the FLRA. Furthermore, the DC Circuit will consider these issues largely under the highly deferential substantial evidence standard of review, which is generally limited to determining whether the FLRA's reasoning was supported by sufficient evidence from which it could have decided as it did. The DC Circuit typically will not second guess the FLRA's judgment under that standard.

8/1/08: Last night the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1108 (326 yeas – 102 nays), a bill to grant the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products. With NTEU’s support, the bill included an Oversight Committee amendment providing credit to federal employees covered under the FERS system to count unused sick leave towards their retirement pension calculation. Under the bipartisan agreement, FERS-covered employees will receive credit for 75 percent of their unused sick leave for three years after the bill becomes law.

7/30/08: With the August recess break nearly upon us, NTEU has had great success in including the 3.9 percent pay raise in major legislative vehicles moving forward in both Houses of Congress. This is one of the union's top legislative priorities for the year.

7/29/08: NTEU National President Colleen Kelley this week welcomed overdue action by the General Services Administration (GSA) to raise the mileage reimbursement rate to 58.5 cents per mile for federal employees using their personal vehicles on government business. At the same time, she expressed her clear disappointment that the increase is not retroactive to July 1, as NTEU had urged, and stated that the IRS rate should be even higher. GSA raised the rate effective Aug. 1.

Earlier, the Internal Revenue Service increased the rate allowable as a business deduction for business travel to 58.5 cents per mile, effective July 1. At that time, Kelley immediately called on GSA to follow the IRS in raising the rate for federal workers, and to make the increase effective on the same date as the IRS. GSA sets the rate for federal employees, and cannot exceed that established by the IRS.

7/15/08: NTEU received a letter from Linda Springer, Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), notifying the union that OPM will be administering the Federal Human Capital Survey (FHCS) to employees in the federal workforce. The tentative administration date is August 11–September 12.

Participants in the survey include 450,000 full-time, permanent employees from the President’s Management Agenda agencies and approximately 60 small/independent agencies. This will be the fourth time OPM has administered the biannual survey.