Home Media Center News Releases

Washington, D.C.-The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) today moved aggressively by filing a federal court class action suit that challenges Internal Revenue Service (IRS) overtime practices affecting IRS regional and district counsel lawyers nationwide.

The union, which represents 1,200 attorneys and support workers in IRS regional and district counsel offices around the country, as well as others in the IRS Washington, D.C., Office of Chief Counsel, filed the overtime class action suit in the United States Court of Federal Claims (CFC).

The suit alleges a violation of federal law in the agency's failure to pay bargaining unit attorneys for overtime hours worked and time spent in travel. NTEU is arguing that the IRS effectively has induced attorneys to work overtime, without compensation, by assigning them workloads and holding them to deadlines that do not permit 40-hour workweeks.

NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley said the suit "is the first step in righting a wrong that goes to the very heart of fairness and equity. People should not only be paid for the work they do, but they deserve to be treated fairly."

IRS regional lawyers and support staff voted overwhelmingly for NTEU representation last March, joining their colleagues in the Washington office who have been represented by NTEU for some time. The employees in these offices ensure compliance with tax laws through the judicial system, including arguing cases in the United States Tax Court.

The class action suit alleges that the failure of the regional and district counsel offices to compensate attorneys with overtime is a violation of the Federal Employees Pay Act (FEPA), which courts have construed to require agencies to compensate employees for overtime hours they are induced to work. NTEU is seeking back pay and interest for class members for unpaid overtime covering the past six years.

Kelley noted that NTEU has asked the federal court to certify a class of plaintiffs that consists only of those attorneys who are union members; that is the union's right under federal labor law. If the court agrees, then any current or former IRS attorney who wishes to be included in the class of plaintiffs would have to be a NTEU member.