Guidance From OPM Reductions in Force Furloughs

The true path of federal funding and employment will be discerned during the months and years to come. It is a fair guess, however, that there will be some reductions of personnel at some agencies. A few small agencies may become extinct. There may be budgetary shortfalls. None of this information is news.

But of interest are two publications offered by the Office of Personnel Management prepared in anticipation of what may yet be.

First, there's the March 2017 "Workforce Reshaping Operations Handbook." It summarizes the role of the Human Resources offices of agencies in the restructuring process, the existing statutory and regulatory flexibilities and limitations on realignments of personnel, and most particularly, reductions in force or means to avoid RIFs, and the Handbook restates existing OPM regulatory guidance. It represents a readable, if somewhat opaque, explanation of the RIF process (OPM cannot make the process much clearer than its own regulations, which are not as transparent as might be desired). Check it out at:opm.gov.

And, second, we have the March 2017 OPM "Guidance for Administrative Furloughs," covering both administrative (planned) furloughs and "shutdown" furloughs, when the agency unexpectedly runs out of money. The Handbook, likes its companion on "Reshaping" is free of unnecessary citations to regulations or MSPB or court cases. It provides as clear an explanation of the furlough process as can be accurately provided based on OPM instructions. Check this one out at: opm.gov.

FLRA Reminder on Counsel Fee Petitions to Arbitrators

Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Prisons and AFGE Council 33, 70 FLRA 195 (2017), remanded an arbitrator's award of counsel fees because the arbitrator accepted the union's fee request without an analysis of the reasonableness of the time invested by counsel. Some counsel fee petitions granted by arbitrators can run into substantial money. Agency and union counsel alike should be careful about providing arbitrators the detailed information necessary to assess the reasonableness of a fee request, along with the citations from FLRA, MSPB, and Federal Circuit law necessary to understand the statutory bases for fee awards as those statutes have been interpreted by those entrusted with their administration. Review the decision at: flra.gov.