Official TimeOfficial time is all time granted an employee by the agency to perform representational functions on behalf of a labor union, without charge to leave or loss of pay, when the employee would otherwise be in a duty status and shall be considered hours of work. Representational functions are those authorized activities undertaken by employees on behalf of other employees pursuant to such employees' right to representation under labor relations statutes, regulations, Executive orders, or the terms of a collective bargaining agreement. Requests by union officials for use of official time must be approved by their immediate supervisors. In evaluating requests you should consider the "reasonableness" of the request - not just in amount of time but in other factors such as, the specific time of day, availability of your staff to complete tasks, past experience with the amount and efficient use of official time, the installation benefits to be derived, etc. Normally, union officials perform their union functions on an as-needed/on- call basis, while they remain assigned to primary duties they were initially hired to do (it is not unusual to have full-time union officials at an installation with a large civilian work force). Supervisors must understand the role of the union official and attempt to achieve a balance between use of official time and getting the job done. Union officials also have responsibilities with respect to official time. They must:
If you suspect an employee is abusing use of official time you should contact the Civilian Personnel Flight for guidance. Supervisors enter official duty time on the employee's Time and Attendance Sheet. You must also specify by code the type of representational function it was used for. This information is then automated and available for local and higher level tracking and reporting purposes. |
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