A federal judge in Washington, D.C. has sided with the
National Treasury Employees Union in its suit against the
personnel rules at the Department of Homeland Security,
although the court’s ruling affects only the labor
relations portion of the policies that DHS plans to put
into practice in the upcoming months.
District court judge Rosemary M. Collyer issued an
injunction against the labor rules on grounds that they
go beyond the mandate of the law creating DHS that
allowed the agency to set up its own personnel system.
That system features pay, classification, employee
appeals and other personnel policy changes, in addition
to the restrictions on union rights that were at issue
in the suit brought by NTEU.
The judge’s ruling found that the unions’ collective
bargaining rights would be too restricted and provide
too many opportunities for department management to
override even the more limited bargaining that would be
allowed. In addition, she found that the restrictions
that the rules would place on the Federal Labor Relations
Authority’s role at DHS go beyond the underlying statute’s
provisions.
The court’s ruling leaves the DHS policies up in the air
at least for now. The government could appeal, and DHS
apparently can go ahead with other portions of the rules
despite the injunction. However, due to the interrelated
nature of many of the changes—for example, the ruling
calls into question the department’s plans for the role
of unions in designing and carrying out pay reforms—the
effect of the ban might spill over into other areas, as well.
