More Tension Between SSA Management And ALJ Union

      From Government Executive:

The Association of Administrative Law Judges accused the Social Security Administration of breaking federal labor law when it implemented a partial union contract on Monday.

Union representatives said that the agency’s move flies in the face of the ground rules the parties reached earlier in the negotiation process, and that a decision by management to unilaterally rewrite one provision to implement a new rule on how it will withhold union dues is flatly illegal.

Negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement between Social Security and the administrative law judges date back over a year. During discussions last year, the parties reached agreement on 20 of 29 proposed contract articles, but went to impasse over the final nine. The Federal Service Impasses Panel issued a largely pro-management decision in April, prompting the union to sue the panel, arguing that the manner in which members were appointed violates the Appointments Clause of the Constitution.

In April, the agency indicated that it would implement a partial contract, arguing that provisions decided by the impasses panel are not subject to ratification. But it relented and indicated it would delay implementation pending the lawsuit after the Federal Labor Relations Authority took the rare step to stay the panel’s order. ...

But not even the impasses panel agrees with Social Security’s claim that panel orders are not subject to ratification. Last year, the panel removed language from a contract proposal offered by the Defense Department Education Activity in its dispute with the Federal Education Association seeking to exempt panel-imposed articles from the ratification process. ...

     This happened on Monday. Note that also on Monday, Social Security requested OMB approval for proposed final regulations to substitute Appeals Council Judges for ALJs. These two events might be connected.