The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2023

74 JULY-AUGUST 2023 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL AFSA REPORT T he 11 staff members of the AFSA Labor Management Office provide support to the vice presidents and representatives of the six foreign affairs agencies, as well as to our approximately 16,600 members, on a wide range of issues relating to conditions of Foreign Service employment, including issues pertaining to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility; make whole relief for Diplomatic Security agents promoted by a 2018 recon- vened promotion board; and lactation devices in con- trolled access areas, to name a few. LM spent many hours in 2022 in communication with the Bureau of the Comptroller and Global Financial Ser- vices in Charleston on the fallout from the introduction of new payroll software in early 2021. In February 2022, our members—particularly those overseas—were still experiencing problems with allow- ances, differentials, and leave accounting. In March 2022, we filed a cohort grievance, which resulted in interest being paid on all late payments. Most interest payments were small, but there were 40 cases in which the member received more than $600. By the end of 2022, most pay- related issues had been corrected, but members were still reporting problems with leave accounting and overtime payments. After several years of work, LM’s effort to bring more transparency, fairness, and accountability to administra- tion of the Special Needs Education Allowance (SNEA) concluded successfully in 2022. Revised language in the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM), which AFSA insisted on, substantially clarified SNEA eligibility and the approval process and incorporated an appeal mechanism. As a result, more control is now in the hands of parents rather than a faceless bureaucracy. LM’s efforts to seek better treatment and care for members affected by Anomalous Health Incidents (AHIs) continued throughout the 2021-2023 term. In 2021 we focused on reducing lag time between initial contact by injured employees to the State Department’s AHI task- force and a response from the Bureau of Medical Services (MED), and we successfully pushed for access to treat- ment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and other Centers of Excellence for affected Foreign Service employees. LM facilitated the first meeting between the depart- T RM REPORT ment’s senior AHI adviser and affected employees; and the department agreed to provide administrative leave to these employees on a case-specific basis. Advocacy efforts in 2023 centered on pressing the department for explanations on behalf of otherwise medically eligible employees who were denied relief after applying for HAVANAAct benefits. While LM’s pursuit of reforms in the department’s assignment restriction (AR) program dates back more than a decade, significant progress was made during the past two years. LM advocacy led to the removal of Diplomatic Security (DS) as the final decision-maker in the new AR appeal process, and we secured a 30-day turnaround time for initial review of an AR appeal by DS’ Office of Personnel Security and Suitability. The new procedures also set a 60-day time limit for a final appeal decision by the Security Appeals Panel. Over this term, LM also saw a marked drop in the num- ber of ARs in place pursuant to the department’s audit of the AR program. We are now pressing the department to negotiate FAM regulations that will memorialize similar appeals processes and procedures in a related program, the “pass-through objection process” that governs employees’ assignments to critical threat posts. After months of urging, we were pleased to learn that the White House agreed to resume its long-standing practice of sending names to the Senate Foreign Rela- tions Committee with a request that the effective date of promotion be retroactive to the date of the promotions recommendation (for example, for those employees whose promotions had been put on hold due to an open investigation or whose file had not been reviewed due to administrative error). This practice had been halted in 2017 under the previous administration. LM filed sev- eral implementation disputes as well as two unfair labor practice charges (ULPs) during the 2021-2023 governing board term. The Foreign Service Grievance Board partially ruled in AFSA’s favor in an implementation dispute challenging the manner in which USAID selected promotion board members. LM filed a second dispute against USAID alleg- ing a violation of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) relating to the appointment of Foreign Service Limited employees and a dispute against the Foreign Commercial Service, alleging the agency violated an MOU relating to Labor Management