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The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) commended an announcement by House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) that Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees at Washington Dulles International Airport will not be charged as absent without leave if they were unable to report to work during recent snowstorms. NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley vowed the union will continue to pursue the matter until it is assured that all affected employees are granted proper administrative leave.

"Employees should not be penalized for a situation that was out of their control," President Kelley said. “Given the unique and unprecedented challenges presented by the blizzards, it is good to know that TSA has chosen to do right by its employees.” She also thanked Rep. Thompson for his attention to TSA issues, as well as his longstanding support of TSA employees.

TSA management at Dulles has issued a document granting administrative leave to employees who were unable to report to work as scheduled from Feb. 5 through Feb. 11. NTEU attorneys drafted numerous grievances on behalf of affected TSOs at these airports and NTEU continues to advise and assist employees at Washington, D.C., area airports, including Dulles, Baltimore/ Washington International Airport and Washington National Airport, who believe that they were unfairly forced to use their own vacation time, take leave without pay or be charged as absent without leave when blizzard conditions prevented them from getting to work.

When NTEU learned of the AWOL charges, President Kelley immediately sent a letter by e-mail to TSA Acting Administrator Gale D. Rossides, asking that TSA rescind absent without leave charges for all Washington, D.C., area employees affected by the severe weather who arrived late or could not report at all, but who made a good-faith effort to get to work. The Feb. 15 letter also asked Rossides to:

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Restore the annual and sick leave to employees who were forced to use it;

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Ensure that storm-related absences have no impact on employee performance ratings;

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Grant administrative leave to affected employees; and

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Ensure that no employee is disciplined because of a storm-related absence.

While TSA employees are considered "essential" personnel and must work when other government employees do not, current TSA emergency leave policies vary by airport. National TSA policy allows airport federal security directors to issue emergency leave guidance at their respective airports at their discretion.

At Washington National Airport, airport management and NTEU Chapter 330 (TSA Washington National) leaders worked together to develop call-out procedures in advance of the snowstorms and ensure that administrative leave was granted on days the airport was closed. Those who volunteered to stay were put up in nearby hotels.

Kelley urged Rossides to look at what was done at National Airport and consider extending it to other airports across the country. “Although not perfect, those procedures positively impacted the number of residual leave disputes,” Kelley said. "Too often policies on granting administrative leave, liberal leave, unpaid leave and unexcused absences vary by airport and sometimes even by terminal and by shift.”

NTEU is aggressively pursuing a five-point plan at TSA that will strengthen the agency by securing collective bargaining rights for TSA employees; eliminate an unfair pay system; put in place adequate staffing and a fair scheduling system; improve training; and grant TSA employees full whistleblower rights.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments. NTEU TSA members at Dulles are part of a growing NTEU network of thousands of members at more than 40 airports nationwide.