House Passes Bill to Give TSA Workers Full Civil Service Rights

Yesterday, the House of Representatives passed a bill (H.R. 1140) that would bring Transportation Security Administration employees under the standard civil service work agreements and protections available to most federal employees.

Under current law, TSA’s organizing statute (49 U.S.C. §114) exempts TSA employees from the regular civil service system, instead giving the TSA Administrator the authority to set up the agency’s own “personnel management system.” Further clarification is found in 49 U.S.C. §44935.

Under the bill, which passed the House by a vote of 230 to 171, after a 180-day transition period when all existing rules and conditions are frozen in place, those laws mentioned above are repealed, and TSA employees “shall be subject to the provisions of title 5, United States Code” (the civil service statutes).

Section 6 of the bill is a gigantic savings clause:

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