Resources: Decisions

January 2009 memorandum of understanding between the SEC and NTEU providing for a number of diversity iniatives at the agency. This agreement followed the broader settlement agreement regarding the Merit Pay system which was signed in late 2008, and which resolved national arbitrations involving discrimination against African-Americans and employees over the age of forty in the administration of the SEC's pay for performance system.

November 2008 decision of Arbitrator Joseph Sharnoff ruling in favor of NTEU that all SEC Securities Compliance Examiners in grades 11, 12 and 13 are eligible to receive higher pay rates for their overtime work under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Under the Arbitrator's decision, these employees were also determined to be eligible for back pay and damages.

January 2007 decision by Arbitrator Joseph Sharnoff ruling in favor of NTEU that the SEC failed to bargain in good faith and thereby engaged in conduct violative of 5 U.S.C. Section 7116(a)(1), (5) and (8), when it sought to change a terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the parties by unilaterally terminating the repayment of PLUS Loans in the Student Loan Repayment Program, where it had contractual mechanisms available to review any issues that it may have had with the program. Arbitrator Sharnoff also ruled that the SEC violated the ADEA by engaging in the unlawful disparate treatment of the protected class of employees over the age of forty, which constituted a prohibited personnel act under 5 U.S.C. Section 2302(b)(1)(B). Finally, he found that the agency's unilateral elimination of the repayment of PLUS Loans was inconsistent with the express terms of Article 25 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, as well as the terms and purposes of the Student Loan Repayment Program. PLUS Loans are student loans that parents take out to help pay the educational expenses of their children.
 

October 2006 decision and order of the Federal Service Impasses Panel on the compensation negotations between the SEC and NTEU. With respect to the merit pay system, FSIP ordered future merit pay increases must be tied to employee ratings under a new five-level performance evaluation system, which will be redesigned based upon recommendations from a joint labor-management committee. FSIP also generally denied NTEU’s attempts to provide further improvements to employee benefits. However, the order contained a clause providing for improved retirement benefits, through an additional 2 percent SEC match to employee contributions to the Thrift Savings Plan. In another provision of importance to many employees, the compensation package also included a uniform pay increase of 6 percent, or to the minimum salary for the next grade, for employees promoted to the next grade. During the negotiations, NTEU raised the issue of how this would affect employees whose minimum pay in grade has been set as Step 14 (previously identified as “Securities Industry,” or “SI”). As a result, a grandfather clause was inserted to continue the agency’s past practice regarding career ladder promotions for these employees. SEC management has assured NTEU that this provision applies regardless of whether the employee has a formal “SI” designation, and NTEU will work to ensure that this clause is properly implemented and applied.