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Washington, D.C.—The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) has won an important victory in its long-running effort to secure appropriate pay for certain employees of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) who were forced to work an unpaid sixth day each week during their training.

NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley expressed her considerable pleasure at the favorable decision of an arbitrator, ruling in a grievance brought by NTEU in 2003, that legacy Customs inspectors and canine enforcement officers—now part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)—were improperly excluded from coverage under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

“We have said all along that forcing these employees to work six days a week and be paid for only five days was wrong,” President Kelley said. “This important decision clearly vindicates our position on behalf of these employees who are so critical to our nation’s security.” CBP is part of DHS.

During the arbitration process, NTEU and CBP agreed to attempt to negotiate an appropriate remedy for any agency violation of the FLSA, including the specific amount of back pay and additional damages that affected employees will receive. If there is no agreement within 45 days, the parties will submit their dispute to the arbitrator for resolution.

NTEU will pursue a remedy for all affected legacy Customs inspectors and CEOs, including those hired into NTEU's bargaining unit as GS-1890 Customs inspectors prior to July 25, 2004 in anticipation of being converted to the GS-1895 Customs and Border Protection officer (CBPO) position.

“This decision provides CBP management with the opportunity to treat its workforce as the professionals they are expected to be, and indeed are,” Kelley said.

The arbitrator, Margery Gootnick, ruled that affected employees are entitled to time-and-a-half overtime pay under the FLSA for their sixth day of training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) at Glynco, Georgia.

In reaching her decision, the arbitrator rejected the agency’s argument that the impacted employees were properly excluded from FLSA coverage because they are covered by the Customs Officer Pay Reform Act (COPRA), which generally governs pay for legacy Customs officers.

During the 45-day negotiation period, NTEU will also seek a remedy for other unpaid overtime issues legacy inspectors and canine enforcement officers have experienced for work while training, transporting, maintaining, and caring for their dogs and firearms.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing some 150,000 employees in 30 agencies and departments, including about 14,000 in CBP.