AFGE PROPOSAL - OFFICIAL TIME

Section 1.0 Purpose Official time in the Agency shall be administered in accordance with 5 United States Code (U.S.C.) Chapter 71, The Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (the Statute) as amended and this Agreement. Section 1.1 The purpose of official time is to provide bargaining unit employees time in which to perform union representational activities during normal working hours, without loss of pay or charge to annual leave. This Article provides an equitable process for the allocation and approval of official time and recognizes that the appropriate use of official time benefits both Management and Labor. Section 2.0 Representational Functions Section 2.1 Elected or appointed Union representatives may use official time for representational purposes as provided by the Statute during such time as they are otherwise in a duty status. This time will be without charge to leave. Section 2.2 Employees who are not elected or appointed Union representatives may be released from duty without charge to leave for appropriate representational purposes under the Statute. This time will not be charged against any amount of official time granted to the Union under Section 4.1. Section 2.3 Official time is prohibited for any activities performed by any employee relating to the internal business of the Union including the solicitation of membership, elections of Union officials, and collection of dues. Section 2.4 Official time for employees and representatives is provided under separate authority to participate in certain statutory appeal procedures. This includes, but is not limited to, proceedings before the Federal Labor Relations Authority and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Such official time is not limited by this Article, and will not be charged against any amount of official time granted to the Union under Section 4.1. Section 3.0 Release Procedures for Official Time Use Section 3.1 Union representatives will be permitted to leave their assigned work area on official time as authorized under this agreement after reporting to their immediate supervisor or appropriate management official and identifying the purpose of their activity, in relation to Section 2.1 of this Article. The representative will be released unless the representatives absence would cause a substantial disruption in the representatives work area at that time. If the representative cannot be released at the time of the request, the representative and the supervisor will arrive at a mutually agreeable time for departure, normally within 24 hours. The Union representative will be given time to inform any bargaining unit employees involved in the delay. Section 3.2 When the Union representative needs to leave the work site and his or her supervisor is temporarily absent from the site, the representative will notify the supervisor by leaving a note on the supervisors desk or sending an e-mail message indicating where they are and approximately how long they will be gone. Section 3.3

AFGE PROPOSAL - OFFICIAL TIME

Upon entering a work area other than his or her own to meet with an employee, the representative will advise the immediate supervisor of his or her presence, the employee to be contacted, and the estimated duration of the meeting. Section 3.4 On occasion, discussions between the Union representative and the employee may take longer than originally anticipated. In these cases, both may contact their supervisors telephonically or by e-mail to notify them of the need to extend the anticipated return time. Section 4.0 Allocation of Official Time Section 4.1 Council Level Representation A. A bank of 8,000 hours of official time will be made available to the Council each year for use by for all representational functions and labor management activities at the national level. The Council President (or designee) will be responsible for administering the bank and allocating hours to individual representatives. The Council President (or designee) will inform the Agency of the Union representatives who are authorized to use official time. Hours not used during a contract year may be carried over to the next contract year. B. Use of official time by Local union representatives is an appropriate subject for local level negotiations. Absent any agreement on the use of official time at the local level, Local union representatives will be authorized use official time in amounts that are reasonable, necessary, and in the public interest. C. Appropriate activities for use of official time are as follows: a. to confer with employees or groups of employees with respect to any matter for which remedial relief may be sought pursuant to the terms of this Agreement, including exploratory meetings to determine whether it is appropriate to seek remedial relief; b. to prepare and present grievances; c. to prepare witnesses; d. to review documents that are not available during non-duty hours; e. to prepare a reply to a notice of proposed disciplinary, adverse or unacceptable performance action; f. to prepare for arbitration, present arbitration cases, and for any purposes required by the arbitrator after the hearing (e.g., writing briefs); g. to prepare a reconsideration statement in connection with the denial of a within-grade increase; h. to meet with national staff representatives of the Union in connection with a grievance, arbitration or Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charge; I. to participate in a Federal Labor Relations Authority investigation or hearing preparation as representative of the Union; j. to travel to and from meetings for which the representative receives bank time; k. to prepare for local and multi-unit Labor Management Relations committee meetings and local and multi-unit negotiations; l. to participate in training designed primarily to further the interest of government by bettering the labor-management relationship; m. to prepare and maintain records and reports required of the Union by Federal agencies; n. to maintain financial records and books required to complete IRS reports; 2

AFGE PROPOSAL - OFFICIAL TIME

o. p. to maintain Union office hours; to effectuate Congressional contacts: (1) if requested or subpoenaed by a Member or committee of Congress to appear, or, (2) for any meeting with member(s) of Congress as a result of prearranged appointment, or, (3) for any contacts in their own regional office cities with members of Congress or their respective staff members; to conduct training on labor relations issues for employees; and to attend regularly scheduled Union events, i.e., training, convention, and other such regularly scheduled activities of which management is notified in advance.

q. r.

Section 4.2 Time for the following activities will not be charged to the amount of official time in Section 4.1 above, but will be made available to properly designated representatives, who would otherwise be in a duty status. Consistent with 5 U.S.C. 7131(a) and this Agreement, Union representatives will be granted reasonable and necessary time to carry out the following functions: 1. Term agreement bargaining in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 7131(a) and this Agreement, and any related third party proceedings; 2. Mid-term bargaining on management-initiated or union-initiated changes in conditions of employment, and any related third party proceedings; 3. Management-initiated grievances; 4. Attending meetings of [Labor Management Relations/Partnership, etc.] Committee(s); 5. Attendance at meetings to discuss or present unfair labor practice charges or Clarification of Unit petitions; 6. Attendance at meetings for the purpose of presenting replies to the proposed termination of probationers; 7. Attendance at oral replies to notices of proposed disciplinary, adverse or unacceptable performance actions; 8. Attendance at meetings to present appeals in connection with statutory or regulatory appeal procedures in which the Union is designated as the representative; 9. Attendance at meetings for the purpose of presenting reconsideration replies in connection with denial of within-grade increases; 10. Attendance at examination of employees in the unit by representative(s) of the Agency in connection with an investigation if: (1) the employee reasonably believes that the examination may result in disciplinary action against the employee; and (2) the employee requests representation 11. Attendance at the Agency recognized activities to which the Union has been invited. 12. Travel time for any of the functions listed above. Section 5.0 Training Section 5.1 A bank of 600 hours of official time will be made available to the Union every year for the purpose of Union officers and representatives attending labor relations training or other training related to employees conditions of employment. The Union President (or designee) will be responsible for administering the bank and allocating hours to individual representatives. Training under this section 3

AFGE PROPOSAL - OFFICIAL TIME

will generally cover such areas as contract administration, handling of statutory actions such as grievance handling, and information related to Federal personnel/labor relations laws, regulations, and procedures. Official time granted under this section is in addition to the hours granted in Section 4.1 and 4.2 above. Section 5.2 Written requests, including an agenda, will be forwarded within a reasonable period of time in advance of the training to the Union representatives immediate supervisor who will forward it to the appropriate management official for action within three (3) workdays of receipt. Official time may be used for travel to and from the training. The Agency will respond to the request no later than five (5) work days from the date it is made. Upon prior approval by the employer, Union representatives will be entitled to travel expenses and per diem. Section 5.3 Official time for training will be approved except in cases where the absence of the employee or employees will significantly adversely impact the Employers work requirements. When a request for official time for training is disapproved for any reason, the reasons for such disapproval will be furnished to the representative who made the request, and to the Union President at the time of disapproval. Section 5.4 When a new Union representative is designated, the Employer will permit the representative up to four (4) hours of official time to receive a Union representative orientation on the administration of the Agreement, no later than one (1) month from the date of designation. This time is over and above the time authorized for training in Section 5.1, above. Section 6.0 Special Assignments, Reassignments, Details The Agency agrees it will notify the Union prior to placing Union officials on special assignments, reassignments, and/or details away from the area within which they serve. Section 7.0 Allegations of Abuse Alleged abuses of official time shall be brought by supervisors and management officials on a timely basis to the attention of an appropriate management official designated by the Agency. The designated management official will then discuss the matter with the President of the Union at the appropriate Local or Council level.