Managers

Different rules apply depending on whether you are a bargaining unit or non-bargaining unit employee and whether your agency has a flexible or compressed work schedule. Bargaining unit employees may participate in an alternative work schedule program only under the terms provided in a collective bargaining agreement. Therefore, an agency that wishes to establish a flexible or compressed work schedule program for bargaining unit employees must negotiate the establishment and terms of the program with the exclusive representative of the bargaining unit.

A majority of affected employees in a non-bargaining unit must vote to be included in a compressed work schedule program when participation in the program is mandatory. For purposes of this vote, a majority is obtained when the number of affirmative votes exceeds 50 percent of the number of employees and supervisors in the organization proposed for inclusion in a compressed work schedule. (If participation in the compressed work program is voluntary for each employee, a vote is unnecessary because employees who elect not to participate are not included and are unaffected.)

For additional information, see www.opm.gov/oca/worksch/HTML/AWScws.asp.

Agencies may unilaterally install flexible work schedule (FWS) programs in units staffed by non-bargaining employees. For additional information, see www.opm.gov/oca/worksch/HTML/awsfws.asp.