Following is an excerpt from a new OPM report on the use of official time by federal employees for union-related purposes.
"Official time," authorized by 5 U.S.C. 7131, is a core component of the Federal Government’s carefully crafted collective bargaining system. Official time is time spent by Federal employees performing representational work for a bargaining unit in lieu of their regularly assigned work. It allows unions to satisfy their duty of fair representation to members and non-members alike.
Official time is available for representational tasks only. It is therefore not available:
for conducting internal union business (such as union elections or conventions); or,
for any other purpose not tied directly to representation of bargaining unit employees in matters concerning conditions of employment.
Rather, union representatives use official time in the service of bargaining unit members, including:
to participate in labor-management workgroups;
to represent bargaining unit employees in meetings;
to facilitate implementation of new workplace initiatives that enhance employees’ ability to effectively serve the public;
to assist the agency in communicating important information about workplace matters to employees;
to negotiate contracts and other collective bargaining agreements; and,
to represent employees in grievances and disciplinary actions.
With the issuance of E.O. 13522 in 2009, which established labor-management forums across the Federal Government, both labor and management representatives have dedicated time to building better labor-management relationships and collaborating on workplace issues within their organizations. One of the central goals of the forums is to help agencies better accomplish their mission in delivering high quality products, services, and protection to the American public. In many agencies, the forums’ efforts are focusing on time and cost-saving initiatives. The forums also mirror private-sector initiatives in recent years to encourage strong labor-management relationships to drive better productivity and industry competitiveness.
Official Time Statistics for Fiscal Year 2011
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) emphasizes that labor and management have a shared responsibility to ensure that official time is authorized and used appropriately. OPM expects labor and management to develop sensible arrangements for official time that meet the needs and expectations of agencies, employees, and the ultimate customers — the American people.
OPM used figures gathered from automated time and attendance systems via the Enterprise Human Resources Integration (EHRI) system to collect official time data. Agencies were asked to verify the official time hours used by employee representatives within their organizations, and to validate how those hours were used within four pre-defined categories (See Appendix A). Executive departments and agencies with employees represented by labor organizations, as well as the Government Printing Office and U.S. Capitol Police, are covered in this report.
Each agency that reported official time electronically received a consolidated report, encompassing all agency subcomponents, of their official time usage within each of the four categories. Since the EHRI system tracks individual records, it may not have accounted for changes to an employee’s bargaining unit status during the course of the fiscal year. Recognizing this system’s limitation, agencies were requested to authenticate this data against their internal records to ensure that the data reported for each agency was accurate and complete. Agencies that have not transitioned to an e-Payroll system were asked to submit their official time usage manually for FY 2011. All sixty-one agencies covered in this report confirmed or updated their official time data.
FY 2011 Survey Findings. During FY 2011, unions represented 1,202,733 non-Postal Federal civil service bargaining unit employees, an increase of 17,048 bargaining unit employees compared to FY 2010. Agencies reported that bargaining unit employees spent a total of 3,395,187 hours performing representational duties on official time, an increase of 9.66 percent compared to FY 2010. Government-wide, the number of official time hours used per bargaining unit employee on representational matters increased from 2.61 hours in FY 2010 to 2.82 hours during FY 2011. Factors contributing to the increase in official time used include:
The increased number of bargaining unit employees;
An increase in mid-term and term collective bargaining in several large agencies in FY 2011;
The increased use of labor-management forums to help find more effective and lower cost ways to deliver government services; and,
Increased emphasis in some agencies on accurately documenting official time compared to previous years.
Official time costs represented one tenth of one percent of the total cost of salary and benefits for Federal employees in FY 2011, yet can contribute in meaningful ways to the ability of Federal employees to carry out their duties on behalf of the American people.
TOTAL OFFICIAL TIME HOURS – FY 2007-2011
FY 2011 FY 2010 FY 2009 FY 2008 FY 2007
Total Official Time Hours 3,395,187 3,096,018 2,991,378 2,893,922 2,800,741
Rate (Hours per BU Employee) 2.82 2.61 2.58 2.60 2.69
Comparison of Hours Reported to Previous Fiscal Year
The following table shows the hours reported by agency in FY 2010 and FY 2011, and the change in percentage between the two years. The data show wide variations in official time hours reported among agencies compared to the previous year. Many of the agencies showing the widest variation from the previous year, however, have a small number of bargaining unit employees. Thus, modest numerical changes in reported hours translate into significant percentage changes for these agencies. Eighteen of the 61 agencies reported reductions in the number of official time hours used.
OFFICIAL TIME HOURS – FY 2011 vs. FY 2010
Department/
Agency FY 2011
Official Time Hours FY 2010
Official Time Hours % Change Department/
Agency FY 2011
Official Time Hours FY 2010
Official Time Hours % Change
Agencies with 1,000 or fewer bargaining unit employees
African Development Foundation 0.00 0.00 0.00% National Credit Union Administration 3,634.00 1,088.20 234.00%
Armed Forces Retirement Home 416.00 208.00 100.00% National Endowment for the Humanities 315.00 280.00 12.50%
Commission on Civil Rights 0.00 0.00 0.00% National Gallery of Art 1,992.00 1,093.25 82.21%
Commodity Futures Trading Commission 216.00 216.00 0% National Mediation Board 0.00 0.00 0.00%
Consumer Product Safety Commission 460.00 97.75 370.59% National Science Foundation 1,153.50 1,619.25 -28.76%
Corporation for National and Community Service 90.00 200.50 -55.11% National Transportation Safety Board 161.50 133.00 21.43%
Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency 91.00 187.75 -51.53% Overseas Private Investment Corporation 315.00 258.00 22.09%
Export-Import Bank 30.00 30.80 -2.60% Peace Corps 363.00 1,195.00 -69.62%
Federal Election Commission 781.25 144.40 441.03% Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation 1,810.50 462.75 291.25%
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service 0.00 0.00 0.00% Presidio Trust 132.50 102.00 29.90%
Federal Trade Commission 105.00 318.00 -66.98% Pretrial Services Agency for the District of Columbia 1,221.75 544.50 124.38%
Holocaust Memorial Museum 0.00 0.00 0.00% Railroad Retirement Board 4,348.00 5,253.20 -17.23%
International Boundary and Water Commission 21.00 0.00 N/A U.S. Capitol Police 2,387.00 3,347.50 -28.69%
Merit Systems Protection Board 129.00 83.00 55.42% U.S. International Trade Commission 359.50 534.50 -32.74%
Agencies with 25,000 or fewer bargaining unit employees
Agency for International Development 5,480.00 4,080.00 34.31% Housing and Urban Development 47,501.75 40,978.25 15.92%
Broadcasting Board of Governors 9,688.00 9,688.00 0.00% Interior 16,513.00 14,311.75 15.38%
Commerce 43,291.25 41,864.50 3.41% Labor 72,954.00 54,434.00 34.02%
Education 11,796.75 10,223.25 15.39% National Aeronautics and Space Administration 16,109.75 16,485.31 -2.28%
Energy 9,624.50 11,301.00 -14.83% National Archives and Records Administration 5,494.00 5,327.60 3.12%
Environmental Protection Agency 39,120.00 36,846.00 6.17% National Labor Relations Board 12,911.00 11,480.00 12.47%
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 15,101.25 12,841.75 17.59% Nuclear Regulatory Commission 2,925.25 2,985.00 -2.00%
Federal Communications Commission 2,317.00 1,366.25 69.59% Office of Personnel Management 6,992.00 6,180.00 13.14%
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation 4,910.25 5,839.25 -15.91% Securities and Exchange Commission 5,842.75 4,321.50 35.20%
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 1,623.00 825.00 96.73% Small Business Administration 4,421.75 4,243.50 4.20%
General Services Administration 38,442.20 40,133.00 -4.21% Smithsonian 77.75 172.80 -55.01%
Government Printing Office 7,407.00 7,292.00 1.58% State (includes AFSA unit) 11,117.00 10,989.00 1.16%
Agencies with more than 25,000 bargaining unit employees
Agriculture 135,700.00 124,223.00 9.24% Social Security Administration 229,195.00 229,311.00 -0.05%
Defense 355,029.48 348,703.71 1.81% Transportation 264,561.83 237,004.06 11.63%
Health and Human Services 28,633.35 38,618.69 -25.86% Treasury 625,704.00 649,170.00 -3.61%
Homeland Security 171,309.00 130,582.50 31.19% Veterans Affairs 998,483.00 809,740.47 23.31%
Justice 174,377.25 157,058.50 11.03% Government-wide 3,395,187 3,096,018 9.66%
Official Time Rates
The official time rate, also referred to as the Hours Per Employee (HPE) rate, which indicates the number of official time hours expended per bargaining unit employee, allows for meaningful comparisons of official time usage among agencies. The HPE rate may not show a change in total figures due to rounding. Although figures are rounded, slight variations in the HPE rate are reflected in the percentage of change. The average FY 2011 Government-wide HPE rate was 2.82 which is an increase to the FY 2010 HPE rate of 2.61.
OFFICIAL TIME RATE – FY 2011 vs. FY 2010
Department/
Agency FY 2011 Official Time Rate FY 2010 Official Time Rate % Change Department/
Agency FY 2011 Official Time Rate FY 2010 Official Time Rate % Change
African Development Foundation 0.00 0.00 0.00% Justice 5.08 4.63 9.69%
Agency for International Development 1.86 1.65 12.55% Labor 6.22 4.77 30.49%
Agriculture 4.03 3.56 13.27% Merit Systems Protection Board 1.68 1.05 59.46%
Armed Forces Retirement Home 3.30 1.58 109.52% National Aeronautics and Space Administration 1.67 1.66 0.78%
Broadcasting Board of Governors 9.41 9.13 3.11% National Archives and Records Administration 2.71 1.83 48.48%
Commerce 2.05 2.09 -2.18% National Credit Union Administration 3.77 1.26 199.35%
Commission on Civil Rights 0.00 0.00 0.00% National Endowment for the Humanities 10.16 7.18 41.53%
Commodity Futures Trading Commission 3.38 3.32 1.56% National Gallery of Art 5.11 2.73 86.88%
Consumer Product Safety Commission 1.15 0.38 200.75% National Labor Relations Board 12.38 10.67 16.02%
Corporation for National and Community Service 0.24 0.52 -53.66% National Mediation Board 0.00 0.00 0.00%
Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency 0.25 0.49 -49.57% National Science Foundation 1.19 1.67 -28.32%
Defense 0.79 0.79 -0.57% National Transportation Safety Board 0.56 0.52 8.27%
Education 4.16 3.90 6.65% Nuclear Regulatory Commission 1.06 1.06 0.06%
Energy 1.51 1.68 -9.77% Office of Personnel Management 5.26 4.74 10.84%
Environmental Protection Agency 3.04 2.97 2.28% Overseas Private Investment Corporation 3.12 2.58 20.88%
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 8.26 6.82 21.20% Peace Corps 0.76 2.66 -71.34%
Export-Import Bank 0.52 0.50 2.44% Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation 2.96 0.78 279.74%
Federal Communications Commission 2.10 1.17 79.26% Presidio Trust 0.83 0.61 36.44%
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation 0.79 0.95 -16.39% Pretrial Services Agency for the District of Columbia 4.18 1.82 129.76%
Federal Election Commission 3.81 0.68 459.51% Railroad Retirement Board 6.15 7.36 -16.41%
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 1.45 0.74 95.33% Securities and Exchange Commission 2.08 1.57 32.60%
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service 0.00 0.00 0.00% Small Business Administration 3.02 3.23 -6.75%
Federal Trade Commission 0.34 1.04 -67.62% Smithsonian 0.03 0.07 -54.49%
General Services Administration 5.31 5.56 -4.37% Social Security Administration 4.39 4.18 5.12%
Government Printing Office 5.28 3.98 32.49% State (includes AFSA unit) 0.61 0.60 1.16%
Health and Human Services 0.93 1.26 -26.07% Transportation 6.76 6.04 11.89%
Holocaust Memorial Museum 0.00 0.00 0.00% Treasury 7.02 7.02 -0.03%
Homeland Security 2.51 2.04 23.25% U.S. Capitol Police 2.42 3.43 -29.49%
Housing and Urban Development 6.87 5.76 19.38% U.S. International Trade Commission 1.52 2.26 -32.74%
Interior 0.79 0.71 12.27% Veterans Affairs 4.02 3.37 19.34%
International Boundary and Water Commission 0.13 0.00 N/A Grand Total – all agencies 2.82 2.61 8.11%
