February 28th, 2025 – New England RVP Round-Up
From Kevin Curtiss, NATCA New England Regional Vice President
NATCA Members,
Members of the NATCA National Executive Board (NEB) were notified earlier today that there was a rumor of the possibility of another OPM “What did you do last week email”. We engaged the FAA from the start of the rumor until late into the evening to verify or dispel the rumors.
As hours passed without confirmation, we sent our own internal NATCA update, only for OPM to drop their message approximately thirty minutes later. Once again, this unnecessary disruption of federal employees’ time outside of work creates distractions, safety concerns, and confusion among the workforce.
Even after our repeated engagement, the FAA has not clarified whether responding to this email is mandatory or voluntary. We will continue to advocate for clear guidance and the elimination of this distraction from the country’s most monitored federal workforce. We will provide updates as soon as we have more information on this and the many other circulating rumors and concerns.
The agency is responsible for assigning work and not an OPM email.
If a manager orders you to reply to the email, you should be provided sufficient duty time to respond. If you are not offered sufficient duty time, ensure you request it from the management official and notify your representative if needed. You may use your FAA email or personal email address. We understand you may have concerns with one method or both.
It is our expectation that employees who are ordered to respond to the OPM email by a management official should be provided access to a computer with the ability to connect to FAA or personal email and privacy to complete the assignment. If you are not offered this, you should request it from management and contact your representative if it does not occur.
You do not need to reply to the email on your time off, regular day off, or any other type of work absence.
If a manager does not order you to reply to the OPM email, you are not required to reply unless you voluntarily do so.
We will continue sending information as this unnecessary distraction continues to unfold.
In Solidarity,
NATCA National Executive Board
