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Washington, D.C.—The leader of the union representing Internal Revenue Service employees today strongly supported action by the House Appropriations Committee to require the IRS to provide substantive information justifying layoffs the agency wants to conduct as part of a broad restructuring. The jobs of thousands of IRS employees are at stake.

President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) applauded the work of Rep. Carolyn C. Kilpatrick (D-MI) in securing language in the committee report that directs the IRS commissioner to stop reductions-in-force (RIFs) until submitting a report on the proposed actions to Congress no later than next May 13.

That report would have to include a detailed cost analysis of the savings expected from any RIFs—including any anticipated increase in productivity resulting from consolidations; costs associated with the RIFs, including those necessary to consolidate the work, and hire, accommodate and train new workers; a detailed qualitative description of the type of training; and much more.

The Appropriations Committee said it is seeking comprehensive information on planned IRS RIFs affecting 1,600 case processing and insolvency employees; 2,200 submission processing center employees; 780 workers in modernization and information technology services; and 260 transitional processing center employees. It called the agency’s initial response to its request for such information “less than adequate.”

In another important step, the committee included language in its report directing the IRS—in the event the agency goes forward with a RIF—to use “all available tools to minimize involuntary separations.”

These, the committee said, should include providing preferences to those employees targeted by a RIF for other vacancies for which they are qualified within the IRS, the Treasury Department or any other federal agency; a 90-day hiring freeze after a RIF announcement to allow targeted employees to apply for an appropriate position; bump-and-retreat rights with broadly-defined competitive areas; training or retraining; active agency involvement in seeking authorization for early-out and buyout programs; and the maximum of six months allowable of Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) benefits.

“It’s unfortunate that the Appropriations Committee has to direct the IRS to take these steps which it should be taking on its own,” President Kelley said. “I hope this action will lead to approaches and policies that make sense for the agency, for employees and taxpayers alike if the IRS goes ahead with any of these planned moves.”

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 30 agencies and departments, including some 98,000 in the IRS.