Washington, D.C.-A federal court has referred the long-running special salary rates case to a court-sponsored mediation program and set a status conference on the mediation effort for no later than May 31. The case, brought in 1983 by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), covers some 170,000 current and former federal employees who were paid special salary rates in the 1980s.

The action by Judge John Garrett Penn of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia came after a late March conference with attorneys for NTEU and the government on a union request that the court order the government to promptly satisfy its back pay obligation to the class. At that conference, NTEU urged Judge Penn to refer the case to a court mediator in a last-ditch effort to resolve the remaining issues.

NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley said that NTEU "is interested in engaging in a final, intensive effort to resolve the remaining issues that divide the parties" so that the class members can receive the money they are owed.

So long as the mediation effort is underway, no action will be taken by the court on NTEU's request for an order directing the government to comply with the January 1998 Court of Appeals ruling that finally established the government's liability to members of the special salary rates class. If mediation does not result in a settlement, NTEU will ask the court to rule promptly on its request.

NTEU, Justice In Mediation On Special Rates-Add One

In the more than three years since the appeals court ruling, Kelley said, NTEU has been urging the government to develop a means for calculating and paying the substantial amounts owed to class members.

"NTEU has taken the initiative at every step of the way in discussions with the government," the NTEU leader said, "and we stand ready to work with the mediator to resolve the remaining issues and ensure that the government satisfies its ever-growing obligations to the class members and bring this matter to a close."

For more information visit the NTEU Special Rates web site at: