Looking To Reinstate Pay After Furloughs Were Cancelled

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) is among the unions that have filed grievances with the FAA seeking to have pay restored to those employees who were given furlough days before an act of Congress made them unnecessary.

NATCA says that the agency has not complied with OPM guidelines which it says gives agencies discretion to shift the furlough days to excused absences, allowing the employee to be paid.

The FAA began furloughing employees on April 21. The law giving the agency the flexibility to shift AIP money to cover salaries was passed April 26, making the furloughs unnecessary.

According to a report in Government Executive magazine, NATCA was joined in the grievance by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 200, which represents about 360 FAA workers in Atlantic City, NJ. AFGE official Dave King said that the agency violated a furlough memo of understanding. AFGE is seeking either administrative leave or excused abuses status for its members who were furloughed. He said that the lack of a response from the agency has put the union in a "holding pattern," and forced it to enter the grievance process.

King said that the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists has also filed a grievance against the FAA, but that was not immediately confirmed.

FMI: www.natca.org, www.afge.org