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Washington, D.C.—The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) today petitioned a federal appellate court to overturn a split decision by a federal regulatory body that would otherwise result in lower pay for some employees of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). NTEU represents some 2,000 OCC employees across the country.

The action in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco appeals a decision earlier this month by two members of the three-member Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) that the OCC did not have to bargain with NTEU over pay adjustments based on an employee’s geographic work location.

“This is an important case involving the right to bargain compensation for OCC employees,” said NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley, “and we will pursue it vigorously.”

As at a number of other federal financial regulatory agencies, OCC is funded by fees paid by the private-sector institutions it regulates and its employees are paid under a system other than the General Schedule. Another such agency is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) whose employees are also represented by NTEU and where NTEU bargains over pay and benefits.

As part of their compensation, OCC employees receive pay differentials based on living costs associated with the geographic location in which they work, known as “geo pay differential.”

With OCC in the midst of a major restructuring that includes closing some offices and transferring employees, NTEU had proposed that employees moved to a lower-cost location retain their higher geo pay differential for three years. When OCC refused, NTEU took the matter to the FLRA which handles labor-management issues in the federal sector.

In a 2-1 decision supporting OCC, the FLRA ruled that federal law gives the Comptroller of the Currency “sole and exclusive” discretion to make pay decisions without bargaining with the employees’ union. However, in a strong dissent that echoes NTEU’s arguments, FLRA member Carol Waller Pope said Congress gave the Comptroller only limited pay authority which remains subject to collective bargaining, just as at the FDIC. Kelley said Pope’s analysis of the Comptroller’s statutory authority over compensation is “based on the statute and very persuasive.”

As the largest independent federal union, NTEU represents some 150,000 employees in 29 agencies and departments.