The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is reviving official time reports and has issued a directive to federal agencies to start compiling the data. OPM sent a memo to agency leaders that includes two data requests with separate deadlines for “taxpayer-funded union time”, a.k.a. official time.
Request #1
Due by March 14, 2025, this request requires agencies to submit detailed information regarding the use of taxpayer-funded union time for Fiscal Year 2024 (October 1, 2023 – September 30, 2024). The required data, which mirrors elements collected for Fiscal Year 2019, include:
Aggregate Data
- A breakdown of the purposes for which union time was authorized (e.g., term negotiations, mid-term negotiations, dispute resolution)
- The amount of time used for each purpose of taxpayer-funded union time
- The total number of bargaining unit employees as of September 30, 2024
- The total value of government property made available to labor organizations or individuals on taxpayer-funded union time
- Any agency expenses incurred in support of taxpayer-funded union time
- The amount of any reimbursement paid by the labor organizations for the use of government property
Employee Data
- The job title and total compensation of each employee utilizing official time
- The total number of hours each employee received pay and the total number of hours spent on taxpayer-funded union time
- The employee’s position description number and official duty station as listed on employee SF-50 forms
Request #2
Due by April 1, 2025, this request requires additional information on the use of taxpayer-funded union time:
- Submission of position descriptions for employees listed in the initial data collection
- Information on employees’ telework eligibility prior to January 20, 2025, following President Trump’s directive to return to in-person work, including required office presence days per pay period
- Data on agency real property utilized at no cost or discounted rates for official time activities, including reimbursement details
- Costs related to office supplies, equipment upgrades, or facility renovations for collective bargaining purposes
- Justifications for any increases in total costs, hours claimed, or eligible employees between fiscal years 2023 and 2024 as it relates to taxpayer-funded union time
What is Official Time?
In its latest available report on official time, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) defined official time as:
“Official time,” as authorized by 5 U.S.C. § 7131, is paid time spent by Federal employees performing representational work for a bargaining unit in lieu of their regularly assigned work. In other words, the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) has equated official time to be the same as work time or hours of work.
In other words, it is time given to a federal employee to work on behalf of a federal employee union while continuing to receive full employee salary and benefits.
History of Official Time Reports
The latest available official time report on the OPM website is from fiscal year 2019. The reports stopped being published under the Biden administration.
Some lawmakers complained to OPM about this to no avail. In 2023, a group of Senators sent a letter to Kiran Ahuja, the OPM Director at that time, expressing concern over the agency’s decision to remove the reports.
“This webpage, which has been made available by various administrations since 2013, is critical for congressional oversight over the federal civil service workforce. Further, it is also concerning that under this Administration, OPM appears to have stopped creating official time reports which have been published since 1998,” wrote the Senators.
The priorities for tracking official time are changing under the Trump administration and in the new session of Congress. In addition to the directive from OPM, legislation targeting official time has also been introduced.
Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) introduced the Protecting Taxpayers’ Wallet Act (S. 511) which would end the use of official time. A statement in a press release about the bill says, “The bill will stop the practice of requiring taxpayers to foot the bill for federal employees engaging in union activity while on the clock, including lobbying Congress for higher pay, negotiating telework agreements, and others securing cushy perks.”
Ernst and Congressman Michael Cloud (R-TX) also sent a letter earlier this month to acting OPM Director Charles Ezell encouraging the agency to restart publishing the official time reports.
