At issue is language saying that once an employee elects to have union dues withheld from pay, that request “may not be revoked for a period of 1 year.” Image: Lightspring/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe FLRA has indicated that it may reverse a policy it set in 2020 regarding when federal employees can elect to stop union dues withholdings, in what would be the latest change of direction with the board currently having a Democratic majority in contrast to the Republican majority it had at that time.
At issue is how the agency interprets language in a federal labor relations law that says that once an employee elects to have union dues withheld from pay, that request “may not be revoked for a period of 1 year.” The FLRA traditionally interpreted that to mean that dues withholding may be revoked only within windows at intervals of one year.
However, in 2020 at the request of the then-Trump administration the FLRA—split 2-1 along party lines— issued rules stating that while the law clearly requires an initial wait of one year, it imposes no limits afterward.
In a December 21 Federal Register notice, the FLRA said it is now reconsidering that policy in light of a request from the NTEU union to restore the former policy and asked for comments on the issue. That notice also reflected a party-line split, with current the lone Republican who was part of the majority in 2020, objecting.
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