Unions representing Department of Veterans Affairs employees are suing the agency following its announcement that on-staff medical professionals can no longer engage in union activities during work hours.
The American Federation of Government Employees, along with the National Federation of Federal Employees and the National Association of Government Employees, filed the lawsuit in a U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., shortly before the VA was set to put the change in place.
“Last week’s announcement that the VA was removing 430 workers from official time defies Congress by circumventing the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 that established official time as necessary for workers and taxpayers alike,” said AFGE National President J. David Cox, Sr. “This action is the latest overreach in their quest to bust unions and ensure that workers have no ability to blow the whistle or fight harassment, discrimination, and retaliation in the workplace.”
In fiscal 2016, the VA reported that taxpayers spent more than $49 million in VA salaries for employees working hours spent on union activities, rather than their day jobs in the healthcare sector. The department said it is changing the policy to “improve VA’s ability to deliver healthcare to veteran patients.”
AFGE says the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 already restricts how many hours employees can devote to union work, which is used less by less than 1 percent of VA employees.
“The administration would have you believe that there is some rampant misuse of official time, but they can’t cite when or how,” Cox said.
VA spokesman Curt Cashour told the Washington Examiner, “Per federal law, Title 38, employees may not utilize official time when it negatively impacts patient care.”
AFGE has been fighting the Trump administration in court for much of the year over congressionally mandated official nonwork time granted to federal workers.
“We don’t relish having to go to the courts every time the administration oversteps and tries to trample on our rights, but we’re not going to back down,” Cox said. “We will fight to ensure every employee has a voice in the workplace, and we will not stop fighting until those rights are protected.”
