SEC Further Delays Implementation of 1% Retirement Match; Union Files National Grievance

10/07/2013

10/9/13:  Last week, the SEC reported to the Union that the implementation of the 1% retirement match that the agency agreed upon in the FY 2013 compensation agreement will be delayed until at least the end of 2013. Union officials expressed their frustration with the continuing delays. Today, the Union filed a national grievance to compel compliance with the parties’ 2012 memorandum of understanding (MOU) on this issue.

The SEC signed the FY 2013 compensation MOU almost one year ago, in December of 2012. This contract included a new 1% retirement match, to be implemented in June 2013, retroactive to January 2013. Over the summer, OHR reported to the Union that it was experiencing some delays in implementation, but repeatedly assured the Union that the program would be implemented within a few weeks.

During last week’s briefing, OHR reported a new implementation schedule for this fall, which anticipates implementation before the end of 2013. The items to be accomplished on this schedule, however, made it clear that OHR has done very little so far to implement this new program since the agency signed the MOU last December. 

OHR’s new implementation schedule for the 1% retroactive retirement match comes on the heels of the SEC’s announcement of a new 3% retirement match for managers only. In the ongoing compensation negotiations between the Union and the SEC, the Union negotiating team is continuing to demand retirement match parity for the bargaining unit. Unless the parties are able to agree on retirement match parity, the Union will take the negotiation to the Federal Service Impasses Panel.

“The most recent implementation plan reported to the Union appears to demonstrate that OHR has done little or nothing to implement this program during the entire course of 2013 – and it appears highly unlikely that they will now be able to get this done in what little remains of 2013,” NTEU Chapter 293 President Greg Gilman noted this morning. “We find it particularly frustrating that OHR has done so little to resolve this issue, especially given the fact that the Union provided to management a perfectly viable option for accomplishing the additional 1% match back in 2009. We will continue to take all necessary steps to ensure implementation of this program, to protect the rights of our members to retroactive relief and, in our ongoing compensation talks, to ensure that bargaining unit members receive full parity with management's own supplemental retirement match."