Day in Court Near for DoD, Unions

Also next Monday the federal appeals court in the District of Columbia is set to hear oral arguments in a lawsuit brought by a group of unions against certain parts of DoD’s national security personnel system. Under appeal is a lower court ruling from earlier this year that held invalid key parts of the implementing rules for that program, in particular the union rights, adverse action and employee appeal aspects. The same appeals court, although not the same panel of judges, earlier this year held invalid similar parts of similar rules at DHS. While the entire DHS system has been largely put on hold due to the court ruling in its case, DoD has been pushing ahead in the areas not affected by its court ruling. It soon will have some 77,000 employees—all of them in jobs excluded from union representation—under other aspects of NSPS, such as the pay banding and performance elements. A decision by the appeals court is expected in a matter of several months.