Learn What Defense Civilian Personnel Advisory Services is doing about COVID - Learn More

Labor Relations

DCPAS is responsible for providing strategic and technical advice and consulting services to DOD leadership and senior labor and employee relations professionals. Additionally, DCPAS performs a variety of Labor Relations functions such as:

  • Agency Head Review
  • Representational Matters and Exclusions

    DCPAS provides technical assistance and guidance on representational and exclusion matters including reorganizations, union representation issues, eligibility questions, elections, and national security matters. DOD Components coordinate with DCPAS and the appropriate DOD Component HQ on Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) representation proceedings and any proceeding involving national security issues. Representation issues include among other issues: appropriateness of bargaining units, the impact of reorganizations on existing bargaining units, consolidation petitions and issues involving the eligibility of employees who perform security work that directly affects national security, and applications for review of FLRA Regional Office decisions and orders.

    DOD Components seeking to exclude individual employees from a bargaining unit based on intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work pursuant to 5 U.S.C. §7112(b)(6) are required to seek approval from DCPAS before filing a petition. In addition, DCPAS issues an annual call for requests to exclude DOD Components, for national security reasons, by way of Executive Order.

  • Negotiability Proceedings

    DCPAS provides guidance and technical assistance regarding the negotiability of union proposals. When DOD Components receive a request for a written declaration of non-negotiability from a union, the Component must receive approval from DCPAS and the Component HQ representative before providing the declaration.

  • Unfair Labor Practice Cases

    DCPAS provides technical assistance and guidance on exceptions to unfair labor practice cases. DCPAS must be provided with a copy of an exception to an Administrative Law Judge’s (ALJ) decision in an unfair labor practice case. A DOD Component may consult with DCPAS before filing an exception to an ALJ decision or an opposition to a union-filed exception.

  • National Consultation Rights

Resources