5/5/09: During oral arguments in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals today, NTEU asked the court to uphold a Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) ruling that the SEC committed an unfair labor practice when it unilaterally moved from the General Schedule (GS) to a merit pay system prior to the completion of bargaining.

In SEC v. FLRA, NTEU argued that the court must agree with the FLRA that the agency illegally implemented its new merit pay system. The union is seeking back pay for employees who did not receive within-grade increases from May 19 to November 8, 2002, or who received smaller raises under the agency system than they would have under the GS.

This case concerns the same flawed merit pay system that an arbitrator last year ruled to be illegal because the subjective standards and procedures used to make pay decisions adversely impacted large groups of SEC employees. The system has since been suspended and both parties are negotiating a new merit pay system.