TRUMP ADMIN. PROPOSES RULE EASING CANCELLATION OF UNION DUES

On July 3, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) asked the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) to issue a rule change that would allow federal employees to resign from their unions, and revoke dues payroll deductions, at any time after the first year of membership.  

• What is the current policy? Section 7115(a) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute states any "written assignment which authorizes the agency to deduct from the pay of the employee amounts for the payment of regular and periodic dues" cannot be revoked for a period of one year. FLRA has construed this statute to mean that dues deductions can only be revoked at one-year intervals. 
   
• What is the proposed policy? OPM has asked FLRA to issue the following statement of policy: 
   
  • "The constitutional principles clarified in Janus have general applicability to agencies and labor organizations in the area of federal employees’ requests to revoke union-dues assignments under Section 7115(a) of the Statute."
     
  • "Consistent with Janus, upon receiving an employee’s request to revoke a previously authorized union-dues assignment, an agency should process the request as soon as administratively feasible, if at least one year has passed since the employee initially authorized union-dues assignment from the employee’s pay."
     
• What comes next? FLRA issued a request for comment on the proposed rule change in the July 12 edition of the Federal Register. Comments are due on or before Aug. 12, 2019. 

THE BIG PICTURE

Number of relevant bills by state

We are currently tracking 101 pieces of legislation dealing with public-sector employee union policy. On the map below, a darker shade of green indicates a greater number of relevant bills. Click here for a complete list of all the bills we're tracking. 

Number of relevant bills by current legislative status

Number of relevant bills by partisan status of sponsor(s)

RECENT LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

Below is a complete list of legislative actions taken since our last issue. Bills are listed in alphabetical order, first by state then by bill number. 

• Massachusetts H3854: This bill would authorize employers to disclose personal employee information to unions. It would also permit unions to require non-members to pay for the costs associated with grievance and arbitration proceedings. It would require employers to provide unions with access to employees, and it would allow for dues deduction authorizations to be irrevocable for a period of up to one year. 
  • House rejected governor's proposed amendments July 22.

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