HR-2305 would increase screening, treatment and other mental health services to federal corrections officers. Image: Plat-Q/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffAmong bills introduced recently in Congress affecting federal workforce and benefit matters are HR-2550 and S-1352, to nullify President Trump’s executive order to revoke collective bargaining rights of employees in a wide range of agencies on national security grounds.
That order, already the subject of several lawsuits, also has drawn new opposition from a bipartisan group of four senators, who asked Trump to revoke it, saying that “unions have long been able to exist in national security agencies . . . The presence of collective bargaining rights has created a more stable and productive workforce and has allowed the federal government to better meet the needs of our constituents.”
The status of contracts is a key issue to carrying out those plans, since contracts commonly contain provisions meant to give employees additional protections, such as additional advance notice before implementing a RIF, giving hiring preferences to qualified employees, providing training to help impacted employees meet requirements of a new position, and granting preference for a return to specific locations or positions. OPM has told agencies affected by the order that they can ignore those provisions.
Also introduced recently were:
* HR-2305, to increase screening, treatment and other mental health services to federal corrections officers.
* S-1313 and HR-2676, to eliminate official time for employees to perform certain union-related duties during working hours; a parallel bill, HR-2550, has advanced through the committee level in the House.
* HR-2880, to provide full civil service appeal rights to federal employees who already have successfully served probationary periods and are serving a new one after a promotion, and to reinstate employees in that situation who were laid off in the Trump administration’s widescale layoffs of probationary employees.
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See also,
TSP Takes Step toward Upcoming In-Plan Roth Conversions
5 Steps to Protect Your Federal Job During the Shutdown
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