Federal Manager's Daily Report

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has passed S-2975, to give agency management sole discretion to make certain changes in IT policies without incurring a bargaining obligation.

The bill states that “any action taken by the head of an agency that is necessary to limit, restrict, or prohibit access to any website the head of the agency determines to present a current or future security weakness or risk to the information technology or information system under the control of the agency, and any impact or implementation of such action, shall not be subject to chapter 71 of title 5, United States Code”—the part of law specifying bargaining obligations.

The bill in part is a reaction to an FLRA decision last year finding that ICE violated a union’s rights by failing to consult with it before moving to block employee access to personal e-mail accounts while on the job.

The measure would, however, require that once management has taken such an action it must take employees’ personal communication needs into consideration.

A somewhat stronger bill also has passed the committee level in the House.