Trump administration questions federal employees’ use of official time for union activities
The latest action on official time from the Trump administration aligns with other efforts to overhaul the federal workforce and limit federal unions’ roles.
The Trump administration is digging further into federal employees’ union activities, according to a memo the Office of Personnel Management published Thursday evening.
OPM is asking agencies to submit information on federal employees’ use of “official time” — or on-the-clock hours that go toward union-related work. OPM is also asking for the names and job titles of all employees who are spending any of their work hours on union activities.
In the memo, OPM Acting Director Charles Ezell described official time as “taxpayer-funded union time.”
“President Trump has promised to restore efficiency and accountability in the federal government,” Ezell wrote. “In support of this objective, OPM is requiring agencies … to authorize taxpayer-funded union time only in amounts that are reasonable, necessary and in the public interest and to monitor its use to see that it is used efficiently.”
OPM’s memo on Thursday also told agencies to share how many bargaining unit employees they currently have, as well as any expenses or reimbursements made by agencies for employees who use official time. Agencies have until March 14 to respond to OPM’s request for data.
When working on official time, federal employees who have been elected as their coworkers’ union representatives are paid their normal salary and given their normal benefits while conducting union-related work.
The American Federal of Government Employees quickly criticized the Trump administration’s perspective on federal employees who use official time.
“The memorandum stigmatizes something that is completely lawful and routine: federal employees’ elected representatives engaging in representation,” an AFGE spokesperson said by email. “‘Taxpayer-funded union time’ doesn’t exist — it is an anti-union buzzword used to distort and defame employee representatives executing their legal duties.”
AFGE said in a fact sheet that federal employees typically use official time to negotiate union contracts, meet with management, file complaints or grievances against an agency, or represent employees who are dealing with disciplinary actions or other management disputes — all of which are legal uses of official time, AFGE said.
“The law provides for official time in order for unions to meet their legal obligation to represent all bargaining unit employees, regardless of whether they pay dues or not,” the AFGE spokesperson said. “Official time is used solely and exclusively for representation, and the amounts are decided between agency management and their unions.”
Federal employees are statutorily prohibited from using official time to recruit new union members, strike, or conduct political activities. The amount of official time employees can use is also a result of negotiations between agencies and federal union representatives. Official time usage has to be approved by agency management.
In 2018, Federal News Network answered some other common questions about official time.
In past years, OPM has released annual reports on agencies’ use of official time. But the most recent report on official time is from fiscal 2019. The lack of reporting has led some Republican members of Congress in the last few years to press agencies for more information.
In a 2024 hearing of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) questioned then-OPM Acting Director Rob Shriver on the increased use of official time, and called for more information on how employees governmentwide were using it.
“Because it is apparent that employees are conducting official union activities in hours that they would be performing their regular job, oversight through recording the use of official time is necessary,” Sessions said during the 2024 hearing.
During President Donald Trump’s first term, his administration similarly took steps to limit federal employees’ use of official time. In 2018, Trump signed an executive order limiting how much official time federal employees could use. But at the time, many agencies were already meeting the limits laid out by the executive order.
The latest action from the Trump administration aligns with efforts to overhaul the federal workforce and limit federal unions’ roles. For instance, Trump signed an executive order in January to cancel all union contracts signed in the last month of the Biden administration. Agencies are also facing a tight timeline to put together plans for conducting large-scale reductions in force.
If you would like to contact this reporter about recent changes in the federal government, please email [email protected] or reach out on Signal at drewfriedman.11
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