MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING FY 2014 VOLUNTARY EARLY RETIREMENT AUTHORITY (VERA) AND VOLUNTARY SEPARATION INCENTIVE PAYMENT (VSIP) OPPORTUNITIES

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1 MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING FY 2014 VOLUNTARY EARLY RETIREMENT AUTHORITY (VERA) AND VOLUNTARY SEPARATION INCENTIVE PAYMENT (VSIP) OPPORTUNITIES This Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is entered into, by and between the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) Region 5 management (Employer or Management), and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 704 (the Union or Local 704), hereinafter referred to as the parties. This MOU sets forth the parties local agreement with respect to the Fiscal Year 2014 (FY2014) Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment (VSIP) and Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) (hereafter referred to jointly as the Buyout Plan) for AFGE bargaining unit employees employed by the U.S. EPA Region 5 Office. In the event (present or future) that any provision of this MOU is found to be contrary to any requirement of the Master Collective Bargaining Agreement (MCBA), the MCBA will supersede this MOU for that specific requirement only. This MOU encompasses the implementation of the Buyout Plan and its impact on bargaining unit employees in U.S. EPA Region 5 with a separation date no later than Friday, April 04, 2013, or as extended under the authority given by the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM). On or about December 10, 2013, the Agency requested VERA and VSIP authority from OPM, through U.S. EPA Headquarters. If authorized by OPM, the Agency will offer VERA/VSIP to the targeted group of employees (See Attachment One). The VERA/VSIP authority will be used to draw down the workforce in U.S. EPA Region 5 by up to 146 positions. Therefore, whereas the Agency has notified the Unions that it intends to make available VERA and VSIP opportunities to employees who are in positions listed on Attachment A and who meet the eligibility requirements, the parties agree to the following: 1. Initial Announcement: Within five (5) work days after VERA/VSIP authority has been received, the Agency will announce which positions are affected, how many early retirements may be granted, and the date by which employees must be off the rolls. 2. Employee Notification: Upon notification of approval of the U.S. EPA Region 5 Buyout Plan from OPM, all employees being offered the buyout within U.S. EPA Region 5 will receive simultaneous electronic notification, which includes the buyout plan that will outline the parameters of eligibility and the process for application. The Agency will notify affected bargaining unit employees, in writing, which may be via high priority e- December 19, 2013 Page 1

2 mail, of these opportunities. The Union will have an opportunity to review the announcement in advance. Such notification will include statements: (a) That participation in the VERA and/or VSIP opportunity is strictly voluntary; (b) That an employee who is eligible for VSIP: (i) does not need to be eligible for immediate retirement or early retirement (i.e., VERA); (ii) may be eligible for immediate retirement; or (iii) may be eligible for early retirement (i.e., VERA); (c) That the gross (pretax) amount of the payment under the VSIP opportunity shall be the lesser of the employee's severance pay computed pursuant to Title 5 Code of Federal Regulations , Computation of Severance Pay (5 CFR ), or Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars ($25,000); and (d) Providing contact information for employees who have questions about the VERA and/or VSIP opportunities, including whether their positions are among the positions listed on Attachment A. 3. Briefing Sessions: Between Month, Day, Year and Month, Day, Year, the Agency will offer at least four briefing sessions on these VERA and VSIP opportunities to all eligible employees. The Agency will make a good faith effort to ensure that employees are given time to attend at least one of these sessions. In addition to these sessions, at least one session each will be held at Grosse Ile, MI, Westlake, OH, and. 4. Lists of Eligible Bargaining Unit Employees: Within five (5) days of the signing of this agreement, the Agency will furnish each Union with a list of the names, organizational units, and Agency Entry on Duty (EOD) dates of its bargaining unit employees who occupy eligible positions under these opportunities. 5. Eligibility Requirements, and the Application Processes will be Explained. The effects of a buyout or early retirement on severance pay, reemployment, and continued health insurance coverage will be presented. A representative of the Agency will take employee questions and attempt to provide immediate answers. If immediate answers cannot be provided, then answers to those questions will be distributed via to all employees who were invited to the briefing. In addition, the Agency will designate someone who will receive and respond to additional employee questions. A representative of the Union will be invited to attend these briefings, and will be given thirty (30) minutes at the conclusion of the briefing to speak with the employees without any management representative being present. December 19, 2013 Page 2

3 6. Retirement Counseling: The Agency and the Unions agree that the decision to retire is personal and can be complex. All eligible employees contemplating these VERA and/or VSIP opportunities will be strongly encouraged to attend one of the briefing sessions described above, and/or to use an on-line retirement calculator at to estimate their pensions. Employees who are considering applying for immediate retirement or for early retirement (i.e., VERA) will be encouraged to set up one-on-one retirement counseling which the Agency will offer to eligible employees upon request. A good faith effort will be made to schedule appointments within two (2) work days from the request and to conduct the counseling within ten (10) work days. The counseling will be conducted on Agency-paid time. Employees, upon request, shall be able to have their counseling sessions via telephone. Before and during the window period, employees will be able to meet with representatives of the Agency who will provide counseling on applying for the VERA/VSIP. The Agency will make its best effort to provide in-person meetings. Employees may use administrative time for these meetings. Employees will be provided with an estimate of their annuity upon early retirement and information on how long the employee can expect before annuity payments begin. A fact sheet on VERA/VSIP will be prepared and provided, which will include information on the reduction in the annuity amount as compared to regular retirement, and the effects on severance pay, unemployment compensation, and future federal employment. 7. Application Submission: Employees may submit buyout applications by either of two transmission methods: electronic mail or facsimile. All applications must be submitted within the appropriate consideration period, irrespective of the transmission method. Applicants are authorized to use government equipment to prepare and submit the application. 8. Application Window: The Agency will immediately accept applications, and will continue to accept applications through Month, Day, 2014, unless mutually modified by the parties. The application window to apply will remain open for a minimum of 30 days. The window period may be extended with advance notice to the Union. 9. Notification of Receipt: Employees will receive notification of receipt of the application by the U.S. EPA Region 5 Office of Human Capital (OHC) within one (1) business day by electronic mail. December 19, 2013 Page 3

4 10. Incomplete Applications: Employees will be notified by electronic mail as soon as possible if his/her application is complete. If the application is incomplete, the employee will be permitted to resubmit a corrected application. 11. Information Missing From Electronic Personnel Folder: If in the course of processing/separating an employee who took advantage of this VERA opportunity and/or this VSIP opportunity, the Agency discovers that insufficient or incomplete information is in the employee's electronic Official Personnel Folder through no fault of the employee, the Agency will make all reasonable efforts to obtain the missing information from other sources. 12. Competing Applicants: In the event that more than one eligible employee applies for a single buyout, the employee with the earliest Retirement Service Computation Date (SCD) will receive the buyout. The Retirement SCD is used to determine the total amount of Federal service that is used to determine retirement eligibility. In the instance where an additional tiebreaker is needed, the largest digit of the last digit of the employee s social security number will be offered the buyout. The date and time of application submission will not be a factor in the selection process. 13. Release of Information: The identity of any employee applying for a buyout will be held confidential. The Human Capital Office (HCO) is the only office authorized to have access to the buyout applications and the identity of any employee requesting a buyout. The employee s identity will be released to management, only after he/she has submitted a retirement application package to HCO. 14. Employee Rights: All decisions regarding the eligibility, selection and/or rejection of positions/ employees for buyouts will not be based up any discriminatory factors or other violation of law, rule or regulation or the EPA/AFGE Agreement. 15. Approval Period: Within five (5) business days after the application window closes, Management will advise each applicant if: a) Their application is approved or disapproved and the reason(s); or b) Their application will be held in abeyance, upon the determination of other eligible employees applying for the buyout and the approval of a buyout. 16. Acceptance of Buyout/Rescission Process: Employees may rescind their application and/or decision for a buyout at any time prior to the effective date of separation date stated in the buyout plan. December 19, 2013 Page 4

5 17. Employee Decision Period: Employees will have five (5) business days to accept or reject a buyout offer. The exception would be that employees might have less than five (5) business days to accept or reject the buyout offer to meet the required separation date stated in the buyout plan. 18. Approved Applicants: Approved applicants have the right to change their departure date, provided the date is within the established buyout separation window. 19. Temporary Delay: In the event that an employee s application is approved but the employee is temporarily needed on the job due to special workload requirements, the employee will be notified that his/her application has been approved. The off the rolls date will be temporarily delayed and the employee will be notified of the date the VERA/VSIP will be effective. 20. Retirement Benefits Questions: Employees will be notified of a specific contact person assigned to provide retirement benefit assistance. This information will include but may not be limited to an employee s eligibility for retirement, calculate estimated annuity, buyout/severance payments, review any special personal considerations, such as insurance and respond to questions about the retirement application. 21. Frequently Asked Questions and Copies of this Agreement: The Agency will post a version of this Agreement on the same website to which the Agency posts Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding these opportunities. The Union will be given the opportunity to review and comment on the FAQs in advance. 22. Waiver of Agency Restrictions: Management agrees to consider each waiver request independently. Each waiver request shall meet the required statutory and/or regulatory waiver standards. 23. Reinstatement of Use or Lose Annual Leave: As a result of According to 5 U.S.C. 6304, a Federal employee may accrue and carry over a maximum of 30 days annual leave into the next leave year. Accumulated annual leave is forfeited when it exceeds the maximum amount and is not used before the end of a leave year. However, there was an insufficient amount of time for bargaining unit employees to have scheduled use or lose leave in advance due to administrative error, in that the announcement of the Buy Out Program was only one week after the date for requesting use of such leave. Title 5 of the United States Code (USC) Section 6304(d) (1) specifies that forfeited annual leave may be restored when it was lost because of administrative error. Therefore, for those December 19, 2013 Page 5

6 employees who originally opted to be paid a lump-sum for unused annual leave, but as a result of the announcement of a VERA/VSIP Buy Out, pulled back their retirement to take advantage of the Buy Out Program, the Agency will consider an employee s request to have their use or lose annual leave restored. In the event that the leave cannot be restored, the employees will be given the opportunity to voluntarily donate that leave in accordance with 5 USC Chapter 63, Subchapter III Voluntary Transfers of Leave (5 USC ) and 5 CFR part 630, subpart I. 24. Reporting: An electronic report of the results of a buyout will be submitted to AFGE Local 704, within 30 days of its completion. The Agency will provide the Union with a weekly report beginning Month, Day, Year, of the names and organizational units of those employees within its bargaining unit who have retired under this VERA opportunity and those who have retired or otherwise separated under this VSIP opportunity. 25. Union Rights: The parties agree that this agreement does not constitute a waiver of any union rights under the EPA/AFGE MCBA, law, rule, or regulation. 26. Telecommuting: This agreement will have no adverse impact on the EPA/AFGE Flexiplace Agreement. 27. Work at home: This agreement will have no adverse impact on an employee s Reasonable Accommodation. 28. Clearance Process: Management agrees that bargaining unit employees accepting a voluntary buyout will be required to obtain initials from the during the Agency clearance process. 29. Modifications Based Upon Agency s FY 2014 or 2015 Budgets: The Agency has based its VERA-VSIP plan on the funding level contained in the House Legislative Branch Appropriations FY 2012 mark. The Agency may make minor adjustments to the positions in this plan. The Agency may also make more substantive adjustments as the FY 2012 budget outlook becomes clearer. The Agency will keep the Unions informed of these adjustments and negotiate any impact and implementation issues to the extent required by applicable law and/or collective bargaining agreement provisions. 30. Inventory of Work: For each employee whose application for retirement is accepted by the Agency, the Agency will compile an inventory of that employee's work and identify the work that will be reassigned and the work that will be abandoned or not December 19, 2013 Page 6

7 reassigned. That information will be shared with the Union and the employee's coworkers by X date. For the work that will be reassigned, the Agency agrees that employees in the same work unit who are eligible and qualified to perform the work shall be given an opportunity to request that the work be assigned to them. 31. Reassignment of Work: To the extent that work of employees who are retiring is reassigned, the Agency shall, before the work is reassigned, first determine if the employee receiving the work must have a revised position description, revised PARS plan, and revised classification. The Agency shall share those determinations with the Union and employee. To the extent that the PARS plan must be revised to account for reassigned work, the PARS plan will be revised prior to the reassignment of the work and, after the employee has performed the work for a period of time, the PARS plan will be examined again to determine if additional revisions are needed. To the extent that the employee's position description has to be revised, it must be revised within two weeks of the reassignment of the work. To the extent that the evaluation of the classification of the employee indicates that a grade increase is required to perform the reassigned work required by the Agency, the Agency will not reassign the work but will follow merit promotion principles if it still seeks to have the work done by an employee or it shall find another employee to perform the work who is at the appropriate grade and series for the work needed. 32. Transition Period for Reassigned Work: The Agency agrees to make decisions about the reassignment of work and notify the employee retiring and the employee receiving the work thirty (30) days prior to the date the retiring employee will no longer be available. The Agency agrees that both employees shall be given time to meet and otherwise work together to achieve an orderly transfer of the work in the most efficient manner possible and to give the receiving employee the maximum assistance possible during the transition period. The retiring employee will be directed to provide the receiving employee with s, hard copy records, case files if applicable, and all other information that the retiring employee used, received or obtained when doing the assigned work that is being reassigned. 33. Lower Graded Employees: The Agency agrees that to the extent work done by a retiring higher graded employee is being reassigned to a lower graded employee, the Agency will not expect the lower graded employee to perform the work at a higher grade level beyond what is prescribed in the employee's position description and classification. December 19, 2013 Page 7

8 34. Reassignment of Work Stations: Retiring employees will vacate their workstations no later than the date they retire and only after all retiring employees who are part of the early out and buy out have retired will the Agency offer available workstations to coworkers in the same organizational unit where the retired employee worked. An employee's service computation date on their pay statement shall be used to determine the order in which employees can select available work stations. The first choice shall be given to the employee with the oldest service computation date, the next person to choose shall be the person with the second oldest service computation date, and so on. 35. Retired Employees For those employees who retire, the Agency agrees that it will set the system so that, for a period of no less than six months, s sent to the retired employee's address will receive a response indicating that the employee is no longer with the Agency and inquiries being directed to the employee should instead be directed to an employee identified in the . Retiring employees may choose to include information in the message that indicates they have retired and how they may still be contacted on non Agency business or personal matters. 36. Retired Employees Telephone: For those employees who retire, the Agency agrees that the employee's phone number shall remain active for a period of not less than six months and callers will receive a message that tells them that the employee no longer works for EPA and tells them who they may redirect their call to at the Agency. 37. Lessons Learned: The Agency has indicated that it may conduct a second early out/ buy out in FY Prior to offering such a second early out/ buy out, the Agency agrees that a "lessons learned" analysis will be prepared and made available to all employees. The Agency agrees to solicit information on "lessons learned" from all current employees and, to the extent the Union is able to reach retired union members, the Union will seek voluntary information from retired union members who had participated in the early out/ buy out concerning their experiences and what they feel could have been done better, what they wish they had known, etc. The Agency shall identify to the Union and all employees, the changes they will make in the second early out/ buy out phase in response to the lessons learned. 38. Further Negotiations: Management agrees to provide the union notification and the opportunity to bargain, as appropriate, of any subsequent changes to the bargaining unit employees working condition, i.e., moves, details, and reassignments that may occur as a result of buyouts. December 19, 2013 Page 8

9 39. Duration: This MOU shall remain in full force and effect upon signature, for a period of 6 months from the date of signature. This MOU may be extended only by mutual agreement of both parties. 40. Effective Date: The provisions of this MOU are effective as of the date of signature by both parties. The parties agree to the MOU as written above. FOR : FOR Management: John J. O Grady Date Scott Sharon Date Lead Negotiator Lead Negotiator U.S. EPA Region 5 December 19, 2013 Page 9