WASHINGTON – A long-time NCUA examiner has filed suit against the federal agency and its examiners’ union, the National Treasury Employees Union, claiming the year-old contract the two sides entered into violates federal worker rules.
The suit bares some of the problems encountered when the two sides negotiated the first contract for the new examiners’ union, most of whose members work from home, rather than a government office.
John Corrigan, an NCUA examiner for nine years, claims because examiners work from home the provisions in the new contract purporting to define “hours of work” run afoul of federal regulations, especially when covering long commutes to on-site examinations. For example, long commutes through heavy traffic are not considered as part of the work day, said Corrigan, a resident of Auburn, Wash., who often travels north through heavily congested Seattle to examine credit unions.
The contract also runs afoul of federal regulations on travel pay and reimbursement, he asserted.
“There are some provisions in there that supersede the regulations,” Corrigan told The Credit Union Journal yesterday. “They’re taking advantage of us because we don’t have an office to go to. What is at issue is they’re trying to circumvent the federal travel regulation.”
He asked the federal court in Washington, D.C., either to set aside those provisions of the contract or to allow NCUA to ignore them.
An NCUA spokesman said the agency does not comment about ongoing litigation.
Colleen Kelley, head of the union, said it has seen the suit and believes it is without merit. “Beyond that, we have no further comment,” she said.
