Region IV In-Person Presence Telework Options

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Dear PASS-represented employees:

On Friday, January 19, PASS National President Dave Spero sent a video message outlining that the union’s priority is the protection of our contract articles and our continued position in Region IV is that many of you in AVS already effectively accomplish the mission while frequently teleworking. I want to give you some perspective and some options moving forward in response to the recent development of management now doubling down on the FAA Management Board message and directive to increase in-person presence beginning January 28. Last week, PASS also put out a message to its members in the union’s weekly e-newsletter where we stressed there have been multiple examples of FAA management canceling, or instructing employees to change, their existing telework agreements. This has been driven by the FAA’s November message setting forth the expectation that employees would begin physically reporting to offices an average of two days a week. Agency messaging continues to lack clarity and confusion among employees persists. To compound the issue, much of this messaging is verbal, with little additional direction from the management team in writing.

PASS telework messaging and grievance templates

PASS has consistently maintained that our collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) must be followed with regards to the approval, modification or termination of telework agreements. This means that any management directed changes to current telework agreements must be based on “business needs” or “performance” in accordance with Section 6 of Article 51, the telework article in the CBA. PASS has been provided with scores of examples of management providing guidance and directions that do not follow the CBA.

PASS’s information is that most employees were directed to submit a new telework agreement prior to January 28. If you were (or are) directed by your manager to change an existing telework agreement for reasons that are not in compliance with our CBA (for example, based on the two-day-a-week, in-office mandate), or your telework agreement is canceled outright, you have the right to grieve under Article 5 of our CBA. Remember that a grievance is a negotiated procedure to remedy a misapplication of the contract by the agency. It is not a personal grievance against or directed at your manager and should not be viewed as such by either the employee or the manager. To be considered timely, grievances shall be filed within 20 days of the event giving rise to the grievance (email, conversation, etc.). You would file this grievance with your supervisor after being instructed or directed to cancel or modify your agreement. It is recommended that you submit the email, or a record of a conversation, that led to the understanding that you needed to change your agreement. If you have been directed to change your telework agreement, please send us that information.

PASS has prepared grievance templates for both ATO and AVS that are available on the public website as well as on the PASS app. If you need assistance, please reach out to your local PASS rep.

Respectful Compliance and Disagreement With Management Instructions

If management demands or requires you to change your telework agreement, you should request for this to be put in writing. If the manager refuses to put it in writing, then you should send an email confirming the demand or requirement. If management only requests for you to voluntarily change your telework agreement, rather than demanding or requiring such, you can decide if you wish to change or not. The general rule in labor relations is “work and grieve.” This means employees follow management’s direction while challenging whether that direction is consistent with law or the CBA. We do not want employees to face any disciplinary action nor be insubordinate. We also do not want any employee who desires to telework to have their agreement terminated and be left with no option but to report to their office each workday.

Telework Options and Timelines

Under our current CBA, employees who wish to telework should request those arrangements and the agency should respond to any such requests in accordance with Article 51 of the CBA. Those requests are normally made through CASTLE. Managers must respond to an employee’s request in writing no more than seven (7) work days after receipt of the request. An employee whose telework agreement request has been denied at the first-level may request reconsideration from the second level manager. The second-level manager shall respond to the employee’s appeal for reconsideration in writing within seven (7) work days after receipt of the appeal request and shall include reasons for the decision. Article 51 and the current HRPM WLB-12.3 still allow for the available telework options: full time, routine, situational, conditional or none.

CASTLE Limitations 

Article 51 requires managers to provide reasons why an employee’s telework agreement is denied or terminated. However, we are seeing instances where managers request an employee to amend their agreement to reflect the increased in-person presence, but there is nothing in CASTLE to reflect this management-initiated change. When you initiate a change in CASTLE, it effectively terminates or supersedes your current agreement and does not accurately reflect that management has denied or terminated your current arrangement. Our CBA requires that denials or terminations be in writing and include information about the specific business needs or performance reasons as well as information about when the employee might reapply, and, if applicable, what actions the employee should take to improve their chance of approval.

In-Person Presence

We recognize that in-person work is oftentimes required for Aviation Safety employees to protect and serve the flying public. Additionally, some work functions and some positions are not conducive to full-time telework. However, over the last several years you have demonstrated that you accomplish the mission by balancing that need for in-person work with the benefits of teleworking. You have adapted to the tools and technologies to accomplish your work in a hybrid environment, including increased collaboration with your colleagues.

Telework is Voluntary & Telework Agreements are Required to Telework

Since teleworking is voluntary, it is your discretion under the CBA whether to request a new telework agreement. If your telework agreement is canceled or modified, then your schedule would need to change and you would no longer follow the canceled/changed telework agreement. If you don’t want to telework, absent a long-term emergency similar to the pandemic, management cannot force you to sign a telework agreement. Telework remains an employee-driven decision, requested through, and approved by, management. Management cannot force you to telework. If you are seeking continued telework you must have a valid telework agreement approved by your manager to do so. If you have already submitted and received approval for a telework agreement that aligns with your request, you don’t need do anything at this time. 

Remote/Full-Time Teleworkers

Applicable to employees in the Office of Safety Standards and Foundational Business and certain unique situations in the Safety Assurance and Aircraft Certification offices, if you have previously been considered a full-time teleworker or a remote worker and you’re being asked to amend your telework agreement, the details will matter. 

Do you have some sort of documentation that supports and justifies why you should remain in that arrangement? For example, job announcement or offer letter that indicates your home will be your duty station, or some other email/letter/memo from management indicating a similar status. 

Alternatively, have you regularly and routinely been working remotely since prior to March of 2020 and management has now indicated that will change?

FAA Headquarters / District of Columbia Employees 

The following applies to those of you assigned to a duty station in the National Capital Region (NCR) or in the District of Columbia, Maryland or Virginia (DMV). During the last several years, the agency terminated or allowed leases to lapse on several facilities in the DMV; most notably 55 M Street and 950 L’Enfant Plaza. Last spring, the agency began an initiative called the ‘NCR lease consolidation project’ to discuss consolidating and reconfiguring space in the FAA HQ Buildings (10A and 10B). Those discussions revolved around locating and assigning cubicles and/or shared space arrangements for employees assigned to the NCR. Those discussions were centered primarily around the frequency of expected attendance on site and the assignment or reservation of that space. All employees who were displaced from other buildings were advised to remain on full-time telework until the negotiations on that project were completed. In June 2023 the agency advised PASS that the NCR consolidation project was on hold until further notice. As such, PASS contends there should be no changes to the current arrangements for those employees until negotiations resume and are completed. 

If there is something we haven’t addressed here, please email us.

Be safe; stay well!

Ben and the Region IV team
www.passnational.org
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