NBPC Continues Efforts to Oppose the Disingenuous and Inequitable CBP Pay Reform

National Border Patrrol Council ^ | August 5, 2011 | NBPC

[Ajnin]

The National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) has made substantial progress challenging the disingenuous and inequitable Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Pay Reform proposal since it was first proposed by CBP. The NBPC continues to meet with Congressional leaders and representatives to speak in opposition to the proposal and point out the many inconsistencies and flaws with the proposal.

The NBPC expressed concern regarding the proposal which only targets Border Patrol agents for a significant salary reduction by eliminating coverage under Administratively Uncontrollable Overtime (AUO), exempting agents from coverage under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), converting agents to Law Enforcement Availability Pay (LEAP), and ultimately not properly compensating agents for work beyond eight hours. Some of the money saved by slashing the salary of Border Patrol agents is intended to fund the following: a huge pay increase for all Customs and Border Protection Officers (CBPO); reclassifying all CBPOs as law enforcement officers, which will result in increased costs due to coverage under the law enforcement pay and retirement systems; converting high-ranking managers within the Office of Field Operations (OFO) to LEAP, which will amount to an automatic 25% increase in pay. It should be noted, management officials typically should not qualify for LEAP, much like AUO, because they are not normally performing law enforcement duties in the field, which is the primary purpose for paying "Law Enforcement" Availability Pay. Meanwhile, in addition to the above enhancements, CBPOs will continue to be covered by the Customs Officers Pay Reform Act (COPRA) and as a result, they will be properly compensated for work beyond eight hours.

While the proposal claims CBP will save millions of dollars, CBP has no intention of returning the money to the government to help reduce the debt. Moreover, CBP has not indicated what they intend to do with the remaining funds after they complete the above cited enhancements for CBPOs. As a result, the NBPC is informing members of Congress how CBP and the Office of Border Patrol (OBP) appear to be more interested in using appropriations to pay for the steadily increasing number of high-level management positions created to support the Border Patrol’s newly created chain of command , which includes costs related to changing the title for some of the following positions: field operations supervisors, shift operations supervisors, assistant chiefs, deputy chiefs, associate chiefs, division chiefs, chiefs, and joint command chiefs.

The NBPC continues to inform members of Congress about CBP routinely wasting taxpayer money with expensive and unnecessary projects at a time when they claim they have insufficient funding to pay agents FLSA or to provide fuel for vehicles. There are many examples that have been provided to Congress, but for purposes of this article, the NBPC cites only a few: the construction of the Joint Command Center (estimated to cost $24 million); construction, maintenance, and operational costs related to Forward Operating Bases (unknown millions of dollars for each facility); and excessive costs related to the endless temporary relocation of hundreds of agents from one sector to another sector (estimated at approximately 18 million per year, depending on the number of agents detailed) because after all these years, the Border Patrol has yet to figure out how to properly distribute new hires to avoid these unnecessary, unending "temporary" details.

Additionally, the NBPC has informed members of Congress as to the tactics being used by OBP and certain CPAs to reduce AUO by implementing artificial overtime caps at much lower levels than what Congress intended; failing to request waivers in a timely manner; refusing to honor waivers once they are approved by the Commissioner; and implementing four shifts. The NBPC explained how four shifts unnecessarily results in a reduction of manpower, but were implemented as a cost-saving measure without concern for the safety of the agents or the loss of manpower. The NBPC also expressed dissatisfaction with the chain of command in some locations unnecessarily sending agents home at the end of eight hours for the sole purpose of avoiding the payment of FLSA. In every instance, members of Congress have expressed concern and/or outrage and requested the NBPC keep them informed of any attempt by OBP or a sector CPA to reduce AUO by way of a lower artificial overtime cap, employing four shifts, and unnecessarily sending agents home at the end of eight for the sole purpose of avoiding payment of FLSA.

In conclusion, the NBPC intends to continue meeeting with members of Congress to point out the inconsistencies and flaws with the proposal. There is still much to be done on this effort and as a result, the NBPC urges all members to use the CapWiz service on the NBPC website to contact your respective Congressional representatives and express opposition to the CBP Pay Reform proposal.

[PGalt]

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

[PGalt]

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

[Ajnin]

I thought the article was kind of dry, but it could end up being a big deal later on.

If Border Patrol Agents lose their overtime(AUO) they will lose 25% of their pay.