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Washington, D.C.—A federal court status conference with the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) and the Justice Department involving the long-running special salary rates case has been rescheduled for Tuesday, December 18.

NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley said that while she understands the frustration of those current and former federal employees who would benefit from this case, she urged their continued patience and emphasized that “the parties are moving toward finality in their negotiations.”

For some months, the parties have been working to resolve this matter in a court mediation program of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

The case affects some 200,000 current and former special rate federal employees whose pay increases were either delayed or denied during the fiscal years 1982 through 1988 by an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) regulation challenged by NTEU and ruled to be illegal.

Special rate employees are paid higher salaries than those paid under the General Schedule, which covers most federal employees, mainly because they work in jobs that are hard to fill or in locations where it is

difficult to attract staff. NTEU President Kelley said it is believed that the government’s total financial liability is in the millions of dollars.