Arbitrator to weigh charge that CBP unfairly denied bonuses
Immigration employees say they have been prevented from taking language proficiency test that could have earned them extra money.
Arbitrators in October will hear a complaint that the Customs and Border Protection bureau unfairly denied hundreds of eligible employees the opportunity for language skills bonuses.
Agents who joined CBP from the former Immigration and Naturalization Services were stunned to find that they could not participate in the Foreign Language Award Program, said Jim Bonnette, the Eastern Region vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees' National Homeland Security Council.
The program offers a bonus of up to 5 percent of salary to employees who can demonstrate competency in a second language. The union's complaint, which has awaited arbitration for months, arose because some former Customs Service employees at CBP are allowed to take the exam required for the award.
"Most people do not know" that they may, if proficient in a second language, qualify for the pay raise, Bonnette said. "We really haven't put out the call for employees to join in."
Bonnette said the union filed its complaint last November, but will not get the hearing until Oct. 20. He said the union is aggressively trying to track down potential foreign language proficiency program candidates to include in the complaint.
"We wanted [the hearing] much, much sooner," Bonnette said.
Spanish-speakers and those fluent in languages ranging from Russian to Portuguese can be an asset to the agency as it finds itself entrenched in a fight to drastically reduce the numbers of illegal immigrants coming into the United States and those already here, Bonnette said.
Former INS employees are not the only CBP workers without an opportunity to earn awards for language skills.
"We don't get any bonuses for language," said a Border Patrol manager, who asked to remain anonymous. Border Patrol officials are required to learn Spanish as a condition of employment.
CBP spokeswoman Lynn Hollinger said no one should get too comfortable with the foreign language program in its current form.
"The Foreign Language Award Program is under review by management," she said. "A top priority for the agency is the development of a single program."
Last year the National Treasury Employees Union and CBP settled a complaint that the agency did not give employees language proficiency tests required to earn bonuses. That agreement paved the way for certain NTEU members -- primarily former Customs Service employees -- to take the proficiency tests and receive retroactive bonuses.
AFGE's National Homeland Security Council represents about 5,500 CBP employees while NTEU represents nearly three times that number. But NTEU recently won an election to represent 20,000 CBP employees, including those who were AFGE members.
Bonnette said despite the election results, the National Homeland Security Council will continue with the October arbitration hearing, and a possible appeal, until the matter is resolved. The decision will carry over with employees to their next union, he said.