Home Media Center News Releases

Washington, D.C.—The leader of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) said today that NTEU and the Justice Department have made “substantial progress toward completion of a written agreement” that would conclude this phase of the long-running case involving back pay due special rate federal employees.

NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley said that part of the process for

finalizing the agreement is review by “appropriate Justice Department officials.” In order “to allow for finalization” of the agreement, Kelley said, the parties have agreed to reschedule their court status conference for December 4.

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 total financial recovery will be in the millions of dollars.