2019 National Agreement - NTEU Chapter 247

2019 National Agreement

Internal Revenue Service and National Treasury Employees Union



As the world's largest financial institution, the Internal Revenue Service plays a pivotal role in funding the United States government and enforcing the nation's tax laws. As the nation's largest independent federalemployee union, the National Treasury Employees Union represents 150,000 employees in 31 departments and agencies, including tens of thousands of IRS workers.

NTEU and IRS have been negotiating national-term contracts for nearly 50 years and each new agreement has improved upon the preceding one. These innovative contracts protect the rights of IRS employees, improve working conditions, enable employees to serve taxpayers more effectively and further the mission of the IRS.

Every year, the IRS processes more than 240 million individual returns, collects more than $3 trillion, audits more than 1 million returns and maintains a website that gets more than 400 million views. Delivering these accomplishments does not happen automatically, and it does not happen by accident. It happens because of the talent, expertise and dedication of our workforce.

NTEU-negotiated contracts enhance the well-being of that talented, dedicated workforce. Over the years, the negotiations have resulted in worker-friendly provisions that set up alternative work schedules and telework, provided for transit subsidies and tuition reimbursement and established bilingual, time-off and performance award programs.

Over the decades, as the scope of the IRS has grown, NTEU has grown as well. NTEU works in the courts, at the bargaining table, with Congress and with the media to strengthen the federal workforce. Through a variety of outreach efforts, NTEU provides top-notch representation to IRS employees. And in workplaces nationwide, highly-trained NTEU local leaders work alongside IRS employees and stand ready to address their everyday issues and concerns.

In the future, the IRS will continue to embody the mission to provide America's taxpayers top-quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities. The IRS is committed to enforcing tax laws with integrity and fairness to all.

This National Agreement is a landmark six-year deal that protects and expands upon employee rights and benefits, and it has been nearly 50 years in the making.

Some of the new benefits employees will find in this contract are:

? An annual awards program that recognizes employees even in tight budgetary times.

? Expansion of the Frequent Telework program with more occupations eligible.

? New call monitoring protections for call-site employees.

? New administrative leave policy for delayed openings or early office closures.

? Reimbursement for costs related to accreditation, CPA/CLE courses and dues for professional organizations.

Table of Contents

Article

Title

Page

Preamble............................................................................................................................................................. 1

1Coverage and Definitions................................................................................................................................... 3

2 Precedence of Law and Regulation................................................................................................................... 4

3

Employer Rights.................................................................................................................................................. 4

4

Protections Against Prohibited Personnel Practices ....................................................................................... 4

5 Employee Rights................................................................................................................................................. 7

6

Outside Employment........................................................................................................................................ 11

7

Personnel Records............................................................................................................................................ 11

8

Union Rights...................................................................................................................................................... 12

9

Stewards and Official Time............................................................................................................................... 16

10

Dues Withholding.............................................................................................................................................. 25

11 Facilities and Services...................................................................................................................................... 29

12

Performance Appraisal System........................................................................................................................ 33

13

Promotions/Other Competitive Actions........................................................................................................... 46

14 Release/Recall Procedures.............................................................................................................................. 55

15

Reassignments/Realignments and Voluntary Relocations............................................................................. 58

16

Details and Non-Competitive Temporary Promotions.................................................................................... 64

17

Acceptable Level of Competence Determinations.......................................................................................... 66

18

Awards............................................................................................................................................................... 67

19

Reduction in Force and Mitigation Strategies................................................................................................. 71

20

Priority Placement Plan.................................................................................................................................... 79

21

Retirement......................................................................................................................................................... 81

22

Work Schedules................................................................................................................................................ 82

23

Hours of Work................................................................................................................................................... 85

24 Overtime............................................................................................................................................................ 93

25

Workload Management.................................................................................................................................... 95

26 Position Classification...................................................................................................................................... 97

27

Health and Safety.............................................................................................................................................. 97

28 Breaks.............................................................................................................................................................. 101

29

Travel............................................................................................................................................................... 102

30

Training............................................................................................................................................................ 106

31

Leave Sharing Program.................................................................................................................................. 109

32

Annual Leave................................................................................................................................................... 111

33 Family Leave................................................................................................................................................... 112

34

Sick Leave....................................................................................................................................................... 116

35 Leaves of Absence.......................................................................................................................................... 118

36

Administrative, Weather and Safety, and Other Leave ................................................................................. 118

37

Probationary Employees................................................................................................................................ 123

38

Disciplinary Actions........................................................................................................................................ 123

39

Adverse Actions.............................................................................................................................................. 127

40

Unacceptable Performance............................................................................................................................ 131

41

Employee Grievance....................................................................................................................................... 133

42

Institutional Grievance Procedure.................................................................................................................. 141

43 Arbitration........................................................................................................................................................ 143

44

Attorney's Fees............................................................................................................................................... 146

45

Diversity and Equal Employment Opportunity Advisory Committees.......................................................... 147

46 Labor-Management Relations Committees................................................................................................... 148

47 Mid-Term Bargaining...................................................................................................................................... 150

48

Furloughs......................................................................................................................................................... 154

49

Transfer of Function........................................................................................................................................ 155

50

Telework.......................................................................................................................................................... 156

51

Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP)..................................................................................................... 164

52

Notices to Employees..................................................................................................................................... 166

53

Miscellaneous Provisions............................................................................................................................... 167

54 Duration and Termination............................................................................................................................... 168

55

Reasonable Accommodation......................................................................................................................... 169

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Table of Contents, continued

Exhibit

5-1 5-2 5-3 5-4 5-5 5-6 6-1 9-1 10-1 12-1 12-2 15-1 15-2 16-1 16-2 19-1 19-2 19-3 19-4 21-1 23-1 23-2 23-3 23-4 23-5 23-6 23-7 32-1 33-1 33-2 33-3 34-1 41-1 41-2 46-1 46-2 47-1 50-1 51-1 52-1 54-1 54-2 55-1

Appendix Index

Title

Page

Form 8111, Employee Notification Regarding Union Representation.......................................................... 172 Form 5228, Waiver of Right to Remain Silent and of Right to Advice of Counsel....................................... 173 Form 8112, Statement of Rights and Obligations......................................................................................... 174 Form 9142, Employee Notification Regarding Third Party Interviews.......................................................... 175 Statement of Basic Employee Rights............................................................................................................ 176 Form 12036, Waiver of Right to Remain Silent and of

Right to Advice of Counsel (Non-Custody).......................................................................................... 177 Form 7995, Outside Employment or Business Activity Request.................................................................. 178 Form 3081, Employee Time Report and Instructions for Union Representatives........................................ 180 Dues Information Codes................................................................................................................................. 186 Performance Appraisal Due Dates................................................................................................................. 190 Performance Appraisal Due Dates - TEPS.................................................................................................... 191 Form 13442, Application for Hardship Reassignment/Relocation Request................................................ 192 Examples Demonstrating Application of Voluntary Relocation Process...................................................... 193 Computation of Direct Time........................................................................................................................... 194 Key Elements Related to Higher Graded Duties........................................................................................... 195 Glossary of Terms........................................................................................................................................... 196 Reassignment Preference Policy................................................................................................................... 198 Outplacement Services Policy....................................................................................................................... 200 Direct VERA/VSIP Policy................................................................................................................................. 201 Retirement Eligibility....................................................................................................................................... 202 AWS - Campus and Remote Employees....................................................................................................... 204 AWS - Non-Campus Public Contact Employees........................................................................................... 210 AWS - IT Employees....................................................................................................................................... 211 AWS - TAS Employees.................................................................................................................................... 213 AWS - Glossary of Terms................................................................................................................................ 215 Form 10911, AWS & Staggered Work Schedule Request............................................................................. 216 Form 14551, Request to Earn and Use Religious Compensatory Time............................................................. Notice of AWOL Charges................................................................................................................................ 220 Family and Medical Leave.............................................................................................................................. 221 Military Family Leave...................................................................................................................................... 226 Military-Related FMLA.................................................................................................................................... 231 Sick Leave ...................................................................................................................................................... 236 Case Summary................................................................................................................................................ 242 Settlement Agreement.................................................................................................................................... 243 Local LMRC Structure.................................................................................................................................... 244 Campus and Computing Center LMRC Structure......................................................................................... 247 ALR Geographic Areas................................................................................................................................... 248 Form 11386, IRS Telework Agreement .......................................................................................................... 249 Glossary of Terms........................................................................................................................................... 251 NTEU Announcement Form............................................................................................................................ 252 2019 National Agreement Ground Rules........................................................................................................ 253 2022 National Agreement Ground Rules........................................................................................................ 255 Reasonable Accommodation.........................................................................................................................257

Page Balanced System for Measuring Organizational and Employee Performance............................................ 258 Page Alphabetical Key-Word Index to the Contract............................................................................................... 261

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ARTICLE XX

Preamble

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) recognize that the right of employees to organize, bargain collectively, and participate through labor organizations of their own choosing in decisions which affect them safeguards the public interest, contributes to the effective conduct of public business, and facilitates and encourages the amicable settlements of disputes between employees and their employers involving conditions of employment.

The IRS and NTEU recognize that the public interest demands the highest standards of employee performance and implementation of modern and progressive work practices to facilitate and improve employee performance and the efficient accomplishment of the operations of the Government.

The IRS and NTEU recognize that a mutual commitment to cooperation promotes both the efficiency of the IRS' operations and the well-being of its employees.

The IRS and NTEU agree that the dignity of employees will be respected.

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