Telework Cancellation at OIT: Grievance Filed by Local 17
Update: On May 30, 2024, the Union held a Step 3 Grievance meeting with OIT’s Director of Operations, Celeste Matthews. At the meeting, Matthews indicated that she was open to the possibility of holding an additional meeting with the Union to discuss a less-than-total cancellation of telework. However, she said that she had to consult with other, unnamed OIT officials. The Union was never invited to an additional meeting to discuss the matter, and on June 14, 2024, Matthews denied the Step 3 Grievance. Matthews’ denial merely asserts that the Department has no duty to negotiate with the Union when it changes the schedules of employees on ad hoc telework. Curiously, she misrepresented the refresh project as involving “3,000+” laptops, even though OIT had previously told the Union that only 2,000 laptops were involved. Matthews refused to address the Union’s charges and evidence that OIT violated Article 20 of the Master Agreement when it failed to give employees adequate notice before it canceled telework, and when it failed to show that it had a valid operational need requiring the cancellation all telework. Matthews also refused to respond to the Union’s charge that OIT committed an unfair labor practice by failing to negotiate with the Union prior to implementing its cancellation of telework.
The Union has filed a Notice to Invoke arbitration. We will continue to evaluate our options. In particular, it is unclear what sort of telework schedules -if any- management will offer employees once the refresh project ends on September 30th, and if they will agree to negotiate with the Union at that time.
On May 16th, Cassandra Heiges denied our Step 2 Grievance. She claimed that the Department’s duty to provide employees with adequate notice of the cancellation of telework had been fulfilled because management told Local 17 about its plans on April 17th, and Local 17 emailed bargaining unit members about the issue the following day (an absurd “the Union did it for us” defense). She also asserted that the Department does not have a duty to bargain over changes to ad hoc telework. On May 23rd, the Union filed a Step 3 Grievance with OIT Director of Operations Celeste Matthews. The Step 3 Grievance is available for viewing or download below.
Local 17 has just filed a Step 2 Grievance with Cassandra Heiges, area manager for the Office of Information and Technology, over her sudden Telework Cancellation at OIT and recall of employees to the office. The Grievance states that the Department has not shown that it has a valid operational need for the cancellation and recall, that it failed to give employees “reasonable advance notice,” and that it failed to bargain with the Union in good faith. The grievance states that Ms. Heiges’ actions violated the Master Agreement and are an unfair labor practice under the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute.
For years, OIT’s employees had been on ad hoc telework schedules in which they alternated one week in the office with one week of telework. There were no problems with office performance. Nevertheless, in April, management proposed to cancel all telework for a five-month period. Local 17 filed a Demand to Bargain and a briefing was held. However, on Friday May 3rd at 2:20pm, before the Union could even submit its proposals, and prior to any negotiations, Ms. Heiges notified employees about the Telework Cancellation at OIT and that they must report to the office the following Monday. This gave them almost no time to get their affairs in order. Heiges’ notice ended with the veiled threat, “Failure to report to the office onsite or to request leave properly may result in appropriate action.”
The Union will continue to provide updates as things unfold. In the meantime, the 2024 All Employee Survey is open from May 6 to May 28th. We strongly urge all OIT employees to make their feelings about management’s disrespect for them known in the AES survey.
Click or tap on each image of the Telework Cancellation at OIT Grievance below to open to full size
A button to download the Telework Cancellation at OIT Grievance as a PDF is at the bottom.
