THE COMPLETE LIST OF TELEWORK REMEDIES

Hardly a week goes by without a union reporting a new arbitration decision finding the Trump Administration’s termination of telework agreements and practices illegal. While that is great, union’s need to insist on all the potential remedies that are appropriate to telework terminations. If they are just asking the arbitrator to order the agency cease and desist its termination efforts or to reinstate the prior telework arrangements, they are making a big mistake. There is a lot more to making unit employees whole for the damage done, e.g., back pay and more. So, for those unions waiting for the arbitrator to address the remedies, we thought it would be helpful to list ten or so corrective actions that should be taken.

• An order that the agency cease and desist its illegal and/or contract conflicting telework termination efforts.
• An order that the agency shall reinstate employees to their prior telework arrangements.
• An order that the agency reimburse any employee who took leave (sick, annual or LWOP) that she would not have had to take if allowed to telework. For example, did someone take sick leave to leave work early for a MD appointment that she would not have needed if working from her home near her MD’s office?  (Unions should be advising employees to keep track of such incidents to make their claims easier.)
• Once the union substantiates an employee lost money or leave, an order that the agency pay union attorney fees is appropriate.
• An order reimbursing employees for any commuting costs they incurred because their telework arrangement was cancelled. Since the employees were not required to be at work once telework was terminated, the costs they incurred are not commuting costs. This would include mileage and parking. It may even involve a bump in one’s car insurance costs.
• Given that the telework termination order forced employees to spend time traveling that but for the agency decision would have been personal time, the arbitrator should be asked to order reimbursement for those forced hours. Those hours were not commuting time which normally is not payable because given the employees were entitled to be on Telework no commute was necessary. Moreover, they could be considered overtime hours on top of the eight hours they worked. FLRA addressed a situation similar to this in the following case which si where you should start your research: United States Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (Agency) and National Treasury Employees Union (Union),  65 FLRA No. 205 (2011)
• An order that any employees charged AWOL, LWOP or disciplined for failing to report on time to the government office be reimbursed and their records cleared of the incident.
• An order that they agency reinstate any employee who resigned because his telework made it intolerable to work or who shifted to a part-time schedule or other job. This reinstatement would come with back pay, interest restored leave, restored health benefits, restored retirement contributions, etc. NFFE won a case recently that included this remedy. Click here. A related issue is whether the arbitrator should retain jurisdiction to hear any reinstatement disputes given that the implementation of a reinstatement would merely be an implementation of the arbitrator’s order.
• A finding of disability discrimination for any disabled employees who had their telework accommodations taken away, along with an order that appropriate compensatory damages be provided.
• If your case involved a ULP finding or an EEO discrimination judgement, an order that the agency be required to post notices similar to what FLRA or EEOC would order.