Special pay rates case inches toward a resolution

Hundreds of thousands of participants in a 19-year-old special rates back pay lawsuit are a bit closer to receiving their portion of a $173.5 million settlement.

On Monday, federal judge Nancy Firestone postponed final approval of the case while she reviews comments from the participants on how to disburse the funds in the case. But National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley said she expects a ruling by the end of the year. Once final approval is granted, those included in the class action lawsuit will get letters telling them how much they are owed and how to claim the money.

In a Nov. 18 statement, Kelley called Monday's fairness hearing "a critical step in bringing this matter to a close, and paying money to those who rightfully deserve it."

The case affects at least 212,000 current and former employees who worked under special salary rates from 1982 to 1988. These employees were paid at higher levels than other workers because they worked in occupations that were difficult to fill because of job duties or location.

In 1982, the Office of Personnel Management created a rule that exempted special rate employees from annual pay adjustments to the General Schedule, and special rate employees were denied raises from 1982 to 1988. In 1983, NTEU initiated the class action suit challenging the OPM regulation.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the regulation was illegal in 1987, but OPM and NTEU spent another 11 years arguing over how to settle the case. In 1998, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the affected employees should be compensated as though OPM's 1982 regulation never existed. Settlement issues were finally worked out in January, and the case was transferred to the Court of Federal Claims, where it received a preliminary approval from Firestone.

While all special rate workers employed from 1982 to 1988 were included in the suit, employees who were properly compensated during that period will not benefit from the settlement. The settlement includes a provision allowing survivors of deceased employees to make claims. Employees who think they are entitled to back pay but were not members of the class action lawsuit are also able to make claims.

For more information about the special rates back pay case, visit www.SpecialRatesSettlement.com or call NTEU's special hot line at 800-750-3406.