OPM has told agencies to submit collective bargaining agreements and arbitration awards under terms of a May executive order, saying that requirement was not affected by a court order blocking parts of that order and two others.
A memo to agencies is the latest in a series of instructions from OPM regarding the orders and the court decision, which the administration is appealing; the most recent prior one pointed to unaffected provisions on positions for agencies to take in bargaining and setting a goal of completing bargaining within a year.
OPM said that under a provision still in effect, agencies are to submit to OPM “each term collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and its expiration date as well as arbitration awards. OPM is currently developing a collective bargaining database to facilitate making CBAs publicly accessible on the Internet in the future.”
Existing contracts are to be submitted within 30 days in optical character recognition text-readable format, are to include certain information about the agreement, and must meet “Section 508” requirements that they be accessible to those with handicaps. New contracts similarly are to be submitted within 30 days of their taking effect. Agencies are to submit new arbitration awards to OPM within 10 business days of receipt.
OPM said it will provide additional guidance regarding the submission of CBAs through the collective bargaining database when it becomes operative.