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Washington, D.C.—The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) moved an important step closer toward securing an appropriate remedy for Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees hurt by the agency’s use of an illegal educational requirement to fill a key position.

An arbitrator’s decision on the remedy essentially adopts the measures sought by the union, said NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley. “When implemented, the decision could provide many IRS employees with the opportunity for advancement” to the position of Revenue Agent (RA), she said.

The case arose when the IRS unilaterally imposed five required areas of coursework in accounting as a “selective placement factor” for the position.

The effect of this requirement was to deny promotional opportunities to well-qualified IRS employees who met the requirements that previously were in place.

Accordingly, NTEU took the matter to arbitration and, in 2004, won a decision that the new educational standard violates both federal law and the NTEU-IRS contract.

The arbitrator ruled that minimum education requirements can be imposed only if an agency shows that the duties of the position can only be performed by an individual who meets those requirements.

President Kelley noted once again, as she has since the beginning of this dispute, the reality at the IRS is that thousands of RAs are successfully performing the duties of their positions without meeting the new and unilaterally-imposed requirement.

The remedy ordered by the arbitrator, set out in a 22-page decision, mandates notice to affected employees, establishment of a claims procedure, and the re-running by the agency of rankings of applicants for each RA vacancy.

Employees who may benefit from this remedy include those who applied for an RA vacancy, but were deemed unqualified by IRS because they did not satisfy the five-course requirement. In addition, employees who did not apply for an RA vacancy, but who can prove that they would have applied for a specific vacancy if they had not been deterred by the five-course requirement, may be eligible to be considered in the re-run of rankings of applicants for that vacancy.

President Kelley said that along with the right to priority consideration for future RA vacancies, the arbitrator’s award also leaves open the possibility that individual employees may be able to prove their entitlement to a retroactive promotion, and, in certain circumstances, tuition reimbursement for courses taken to meet the five-course requirement. The IRS could delay resolution, however, by taking an appeal of this decision to the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA).

Another aspect of this case involved the unilateral increase in the number of college-level accounting credits required for a position as an RA from the government-wide standard of 24 hours to 30 hours. NTEU strongly opposed this increase and the initial arbitration decision agreed with the union’s position. However, the FLRA determined that the arbitrator had no jurisdiction to assess the validity of that rule since it had been imposed by the Office of Personnel Management.

“Once again, it is quite clear to all parties that this increase in the number of accounting credits plays no role in how successful a Revenue Agent will be,” Kelley said. “The FLRA overturned this portion of the arbitrator’s initial decision on a technicality and NTEU is continuing to assess its options regarding the accounting credits rule. Our goal in this entire case has always been to ensure that the IRS had qualified and capable applicants for Revenue Agent positions and I believe that some of the most qualified applicants are right under the agency’s nose. NTEU will continue to fight so these employees have a fair opportunity to apply for these positions.”

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 30 agencies and departments, including about 94,000 in the IRS.