On October 1, 1996, the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights (OCWR, then known as the Office of Compliance) issued its final regulations implementing the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (FSLMRS) in the legislative branch. These regulations were adopted by the OCWR Board of Directors and approved by Congress for certain employees and employing offices covered by the Congressional Accountability Act (CAA). At the time, Congress did not approve regulations under the FSLMRS for most offices within the Senate or the House of Representatives.
On May 10, 2022, the House of Representatives adopted House Resolution 1096, thereby approving the FSLMRS substantive regulations for all employees and employing offices of the House. The OCWR Board issued its “H Series” regulations on May 16, 2022, which applied the 1996 substantive regulations to those employees and employing offices within the House that were not already covered, including Members’ offices, Committees, and many others. These regulations will become effective for House employees and employing offices on July 18, 2022.
It is important to note that these regulations still do not apply to certain employees and employing offices, specifically those Senate employees and employing offices listed in section 220(e)(2) of the CAA, 2 U.S.C. § 1351(e)(2), as well as the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights, the Office of Technology Assessment, and the Congressional Budget Office. Regulations covering those employees and employing offices are still pending (see below).
To download a PDF of the complete FSLMRS final regulations, please see below:
To see the regulations as originally published in 1996, please see the Notice of Issuance of Final Regulations in the Congressional Record.
To see the H Series regulations applying the FSLMRS regulations to the House of Representatives, please see the Notice of Issuance of Final Regulations in the May 16, 2022 Congressional Record.
Pending FSLMRS Regulations for Other Offices
The FSLMRS regulations above have not yet been approved with respect to those employees and employing offices within the Senate that are listed in section 220(e)(2) of the CAA. They also have not yet been approved with respect to the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights, the Office of Technology Assessment, or the Congressional Budget Office. Therefore, the FSLMRS regulations are still considered pending with respect to those offices.