AVS CBA Travel Rules for Return-to-Office

Details: Published: March 25, 2025

I wanted to follow up on the message you received from PASS on Friday afternoon regarding the FAA’s implementation of the full-time, in-person, in-office presence or Return-to-Office (RTO) policy.

The agency is now imposing a change in long ago implemented workplace flexibilities on you by directing you to report in person regularly and routinely to a facility for your assigned duties. This is solely an FAA decision influenced by executive orders and DOT guidance. Nothing has been agreed to by PASS.

You have rights and protections under our collective bargaining agreement (CBA) which is a legally enforceable document. PASS will enforce the provisions to which both parties have agreed. We also know that many of you either had full-time routine telework agreements, had no assigned facility, and/or had your home as your Official Duty Station (ODS). The ODS is the city, county and state or foreign location as identified in blocks 38 and 39 of your SF-50. If your ODS lists your residence city, county and state and then it is likely you were a full-time telework or a remote worker.

ODS, Travel, Expenses and Compensation

Article 100 covers many of the Travel and Per Diem rules but most of the circumstances outlined below will utilize Article 104, Local/Work Site Travel. Our understanding is that most of the employees we represent fall into one of several categories:

Category A—Your assigned ODS is an FAA facility and you have no other documentation to support a different duty station. In this instance, absent an approved telework agreement, you must report to your assigned worksite or another location to work. You are not normally eligible for mileage reimbursement from your residence as this distance is considered your commute. You may voluntarily elect to telework if management approves your telework agreement. If you elect not to have a telework agreement and your facility is closed for weather, safety hazard or for any other reason, the agency is obligated to pay you administrative leave for your assigned work hours while that facility is closed.

Category B—Your residence is your ODS and your "agency designated location" is 40 miles or less from your residence. Article 104, Section 4 provides that you will be paid mileage from your residence to the work site in excess of your usual commuting distance between your residence and the permanent duty station. Your residence is your permanent duty station, therefore, your commuting distance is zero miles. Any travel in excess of your commuting distance is reimbursable. In this scenario, you depart your ODS, travel at management's direction to another work site, perform your duties, and then return to your ODS. You are in travel status between your ODS and the agency designated location and your work hours begin when you depart your ODS and conclude when you arrive back at your ODS. All that mileage is reimbursable and the time traveling between your ODS and the work site is compensable: that travel time is part of your duty hours, not your personal time. You should submit a request for reimbursement of local travel expenses using the E2 travel system to claim that mileage and report your work hours via CASTLE. A travel authorization is not required for local travel so long as you are utilizing your POV.

Category C—Your residence is your ODS and your "agency designated location" is more than 40 miles from your ODS. The FAATP, Chapter 2, Section 2A1, requires that you obtain an approved, written general authorization prior to travel if you travel over 40 miles and less than 12 hours in duration. You can cancel the authorization upon completion of travel. Arguably the directive from your manager to report to this agency designated location is your authorization from management. Submit your claim for mileage reimbursement via the E2 travel system. Per diem may or may not be authorized depending on the circumstances.

As with Category B, all that mileage is reimbursable and the time traveling between your ODS and the work site is compensable. You should submit a request for reimbursement of local travel expenses using the E2 travel system to claim that mileage and report your work hours via CASTLE. If management denies the request for reimbursement, you are encouraged to file a grievance.

Category D—Regardless of whether your residence is your ODS or not, if the agency designated site is unavailable (lease expired, facility relocation underway, closed for long term safety issue, insufficient work space, etc.), the agency may elect to determine your assigned worksite is temporarily your residence and you perform your work from there or travel to perform mobile work in your area of responsibility. Management should allow you to continue teleworking until there is sufficient space in a facility to which you should report. If management instructs you to report to a facility that does not have space that complies with the CBA, you are encouraged to file a grievance.

Category E—You already have sufficient documentation and management has agreed, in writing, that you are a remote worker in accordance with Article 49 and HRPM WLB-12.14. You regularly and routinely perform work from your ODS (normally your residence) and should not usually report to another facility except for specific purposes (surveillance and oversight, training, travel for meetings, conferences, etc.). This should mean that management is allowing you to continue working remotely, as an exception to the RTO mandate.

Follow the guidance above as it applies to your specific circumstance.

Both Flight Standards and Aircraft Certification Services have transitioned from geographic-based organizations to functional-based organizations and PASS will continue to advocate the effectiveness of those changes to accomplish the mission. If the agency intends to redesignate your ODS, we don’t know when that may be implemented but there are provisions for minimum timelines established in Article 43 of the CBA. Region IV previously filed grievances alleging the agency was involuntarily relocating employees. Those grievances were denied; however, we will refile now that PASS has additional specifics to support more robust grievances. One assertion is that if the FAA determines to change your ODS from your residence to another location, Article 102, Moving Expenses/Permanent Change of Station (PCS), requires that the agency reimburse your relocation expenses in accordance with the FAA Travel Policy. The rules for those PCS expenses vary depending on the mileage between the two duty stations.

Filing a Grievance

If you feel you’ve been harmed by this RTO initiative and that your rights under the CBA were violated, you can file a grievance in accordance with Article 5 of the CBA. This will require you to identify and document your specific circumstances and will require you to participate in the process to ensure appropriate compensation.

A national grievance was filed regarding the acting administrator’s guidance and multiple grievances were filed by Region IV and at the national level. We are using those grievances to continue to demand information available under the law. The process must run its course to see if the parties can resolve the grievances or otherwise litigate them. This will take some time.

Office Space

As we have learned, suitable office space in compliance with the CBA is limited. Stairwells and conference rooms are not considered suitable space for employees. Bargaining unit employees (BUEs) who are scheduled to be in the office for six or more days in a pay period, must be provided with a dedicated work space of at least 64 usable square feet. BUEs should not be directed to report to a facility unless there is sufficient workspace.

If management provides employees with instructions or directives, they should be followed, so long as they are not contrary to law or place the employee in an unsafe situation (mold, leaking pipes, no potable water at the facility, for example). Comply and then grieve as necessary. Management should not be given any reason to investigate or pursue potential disciplinary actions.

This RTO situation remains fluid. The agency does not have a fully developed plan on how to implement the directives imposed by the president and the DOT secretary. PASS will only provide you with information it can be sure is accurate and the union will provide updates when there is relevant information to share.

If there is something we haven’t addressed here, please email us.

Be safe; stay well!

Ben (& the Region IV Team)
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