|
GESTA has informed management we are taking them to arbitration to challenge their denial of GESTA’s grievance on situational telework. GESTA’s grievance was based on the information that Segrid Harris, head of Code 500, had instructed supervisors not to allow situational telework for any cases involving non-recurring medical, family care, or other personal appointments. The guidance calls on supervisors to decide these on a case-by-case basis, but they were instead told to ignore that and simply deny all telework for these “lower hour use” cases, even when granting situational telework would have allowed an employee to more efficiently complete projects. Management denied all of GESTA‘s remedies in the grievance, based on their assertion that “A review of available HR data does not reflect any significant inconsistencies in situational telework usage between directorates.” We will provide membership with more updates when we can on this ongoing arbitration.
We’d like to give you some updates on the Deferred Resignation Program (DRP) here at Goddard. We’ve heard back on what exactly the July 25th deadline means. July 25th at 11:59 p.m. ET is the last date/time to apply/opt in for DRP, VERA, and VSIP. Guidance from HR is that “For those that wait to apply at the last minute, we will work quickly to get them approved and then they must have their agreements signed by July 29.” We would still recommend giving them a day or two in case there is a last second rush. Our last update on the number of Goddard civil servants who have joined the program via the 'Message and Updates from the Center Director' from June 17th is 447 people having signed up.
The OCHCO website states that one of the benefits of the DRP program is exemption from the in-office mandate, and the contract itself says, “Employee shall ….. be exempt from any return-to-office requirements.” However, we have been informed that the Director of Code 500, Segrid Harris, has told supervisors and employees that she will not sign any timesheets that have telework listed on them from employees in the DRP. When we questioned Goddard Management about this, we were told this was not their understanding. According to Management, work schedules should be worked out between employees and supervisors, tailored to what works best for both. This would imply that the exemption on return-to-office is in place if you have been approved for the DRP, despite what we had heard previously from Code 500, and there is no requirement for you to come into the office. The latest you would be allowed to take administrative leave is August 15th, unless you can make the argument that you are in a critical position. This is a high bar, it has to be signed off on by the Directorate head, the Center Director, and all the way up to the NASA Administrator level. The bottom line is opting in / signing up must be done by July 25th, signed off by July 29th, administrative leave must be taken (except in rare cases) by August 15th – the exact date decided in coordination with your supervisor and resignation or retirement must be taken by January 9, 2026 at the latest. By the administrative leave date all equipment, travel cards, P-cards, and government sponsored passports must be turned in. While on DRP, salary, benefits, etc. will be as normal, even when one is on administrative leave, until your resignation or retirement. Also, it is up to the individual to go through the retirement process, it does not happen automatically on the retirement date that was chosen. GESTA has filed a grievance alleging that the use of situational telework (ST) in Code 500 is not being decided by supervisors on a case-by-case basis, as required by NASA’s Office of Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO) (see guidance below), but instead a mandate has been issued by the head of Code 500 disallowing the use of situational telework for almost all circumstances. This is based on feedback provided by many bargaining unit employees (BUEs), some supervisors, and comments by the head of Code 500, Segrid Harris. To this end, GESTA also filed a Request For Information (RFI) requesting data on the ST hours granted within Code 500 and Code 600. The chart below is the result, which covers the first three full pay periods immediately following the return-to-office mandate. Note, GESTA has added in the last column and the percentages as a fraction of employees with ST agreements.  |
GESTA IFPTE
|
RSS Feed
