The National Treasury Employees Union has called the
Department of Homeland Security’s decision to delay
the first phase of its pay-for-performance system by
up to a year, “a step in the right direction,” but added
that it’s “not enough.”
A federal judge ruled in response to an NTEU lawsuit
last month that DHS’s proposed regulations for its new
personnel system were illegal because they did not ensure
collective bargaining rights, as specified under the department’s
authorizing legislation.
DHS asked Judge Rosemary Collyer to narrow the court’s
injunction preventing DHS from implementing its personnel rules,
NTEU said.
It said DHS has told employees it would delay the planned
implementation of the first phase of employee pay banding,
possibly until January 2007.
“I’m pleased to see that DHS agrees that it is nowhere near
ready to begin moving on this unwise proposal,” NTEU president
Collen M. Kelly said.
Workers in DHS headquarters, the Federal Emergency Management
Agency and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center that
were scheduled for the first phase are reported to be on
schedule to enter the new system with the Coast Guard
and Secret Service in 2007.
NTEU complained that while DHS has dropped $10 million from its fiscal
2006 budget request for implementing the new pay system, it is still
seeking funds for the labor relations program rules that was enjoined
by the federal judge.
