ALEXANDRIA, Va.–NCUA has sent a Memorandum of Understanding to its unionized employees following its announcement it will be reorganizing its regional offices and making other changes.
The Memorandum, a copy of which has been obtained by CUToday.info, outlines details of the reorganization, personnel changes, relocations and offers of retirement packages.
Approximately 950 of NCUA’s nearly 1,200 employees are represented by the National Treasury Employees Union. The agency and the union signed a five-year collective bargaining agreement in 2015.
As CUToday.info reported here, in July NCUA announced a reorganization that will close its Albany, N.Y., and Atlanta regional offices. In its MoU, NCUA said “a number of staff positions are eliminated or restructured” and that “management has determined that all employees will be offered an opportunity to continue their employment with NCUA in the same grade level they occupied at the time the transition was announced.”
Staff will be reassigned to the three remaining regional offices in Alexandria, Va., Austin, Texas, and Tempe, Ariz. NCUA staff have until Jan. 6, 2019, to report to their new positions.
According to the MoU:
- Examiners will be assigned to the remaining three regions based on the location of their official duty station. All existing problem case officers and regional field specialists will be assigned to the regions based on their official duty station or to a region that is contiguous to the state of their official duty station.
- The existing regional office staff assigned to Alexandria, Austin and Tempe will continue in their current positions under the current duty station arrangement. Albany and Atlanta regional office staff in certain positions will be offered reassignments.
- The establishment of the new Office of Credit Union Resources and Expansion (CURE) will mean changes to the reporting structure for several Asset Management and Assistance Center (AMAC) functions, centralizing the accounting functions and resources into the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO), establishing a division within the Office of General Counsel (OGC) to manage all facets of the records and privacy program. Central office realignments are tentatively scheduled to be effective on January 7, 2018.
- Once established, CURE will manage the remaining functions of the Office of Small Credit Union Initiatives including the Community Development Revolving Loan Fund administration and the credit union consulting program. CURE will also manage the membership access functions presently housed in the Office of Consumer Financial Protection and Access (OCFPA). All employees and functions associated with these programs will transfer to CURE. This part of the agency reorganization includes reassigning the OSCUI grant program financial analyst to OCFO.
- Thirteen current AMAC employees will be assigned to the central office consistent with their duties and responsibilities, according to the MoU.
- A division within OGC will be established to manage all program functions related to document management, including privacy, records management, the Freedom of Information Act, and the Paperwork Reduction Act. The staff currently working regularly in those areas will be transferred to the new division.
- Within Examinations and Insurance, the office is being restructured to include smaller, homogenous working groups.
- Within the reorganization is the elimination of the 15 economic development positions. Additionally, it’s been determined that the records management officer position is eliminated and the AMAC paralegal duties are most effectively handled in Alexandria, Va.
- NCUA said economic development specialists will be offered several reassignment options.
- Employees must state all positions for which they wish to be considered, ranked in preference order. There will be no limit to the number of positions an employee can request (within the number of positions/locations being offered). Employees will submit their preference (position/location) through an automated survey, including whether the employee is willing to relocate to the new assigned office (if optional).
- Employees with the longest tenure will be placed first based on their stated preference, and so on. As positions are filled, the remaining preference lists will be adjusted by who remains in the pool for placement.
- NCUA said that at the same time, eligible employees will denote whether they will take the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) or NCUA Separation Incentive (NSI) if applicable. “There are three agreement versions including employees who select optional retirement and NSI, early retirement and NSI, or NSI with resignation,” the NCUA memorandum states. “Employees resigning that are not eligible for an immediate annuity will receive the amount of their severance pay as their NSI or $30,000, whichever is greater. Employees eligible for an annuity are not eligible for severance pay and will receive $30,000.
- Employees who first attain any of the following in 2018 will be eligible to accept VERA and/or NSI, under the following conditions: (1) the employee first becomes retirement eligible; (2) turns 62 years of age and is otherwise eligible to retire; or (3) becomes VERA eligible. Central Office employees who retire under one of these three conditions in 2018 must retire no later than the third day of the next month following the triggering event or Dec. 31, 2018, whichever is earlier. Regional employees must retire no later than Dec. 31, 2018.
- NCUA said that upon request, employees being involuntarily separated will receive agency assistance in reviewing employee resumes. All requests shall be directed to the Division of Staffing and Classification. “The Agency will make a good faith effort to assist any employees requesting assistance within a reasonable period of time.”