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Washington, D.C.—The leader of the union representing thousands of federal financial regulators today applauded Congress for listening to employee concerns while crafting fair and reasonable legislative language imposing limited post-employment job restrictions on such employees.

The language approved by Congress is included in the just-approved intelligence reform bill and requires senior federal bank examiners to wait a year before accepting a job with any financial institution they may have regulated while a federal employee. The bill has been sent to President Bush for his signature.

President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) called the limited post-employment restrictions provision “an important step in avoiding even the appearance of a conflict of interest” among such employees and said that it serves the public interest while reflecting employee concerns.

As originally presented, the post-employment legislation would have contained much harsher and unfair restrictions on affected employees—including the loss of retirement and other Title V benefits.

However, Kelley said, once NTEU and other groups raised the concerns of employees about the impact of these proposed penalties, members of Congress were receptive to making positive changes in the legislation.

“This is an excellent example of the kind of legislation that can result when lawmakers take into account the views of front-line workers,” the NTEU leader said. “The federal employees affected by this legislation possess the highest ethical standards,” she added, “and they are at ease with fair and reasonable post-employment work restrictions.”

NTEU represents employees in a number of federal financial regulatory agencies, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA).

As the largest independent federal union, NTEU represents some 150,000 employees in 30 agencies and departments.