Lawmakers push DoD on implementing policy of federal firefighters trading shifts

The Federal Firefighter Flexibility and Fairness Act was signed into law by President Biden two years ago as part of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The legislation allows federal firefighters to trade shifts across pay periods without affecting pay or using annual leave. As of Oct. 26, the U.S. Department of Defense was still working to incorporate the new trade time policy into its internal department policy documents. Unfortunately, this has left federal firefighters unable to take advantage of this new flexibility.

U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes of Maryland is leading a bipartisan effort with 86 of colleagues, including Virginia’s U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, urging the DoD to extend full workplace flexibilities granted under law to federal firefighters, including the ability to trade shifts without affecting their pay or using annual leave.

In a letter sent to U.S. Department of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Spanberger and her colleagues requested an update on the Department’s implementation of its federal firefighter trade time policy.

“As you know, the Fiscal Year 2022 NDAA, enacted on December 27, 2021, provided federal firefighters the ability to trade shifts across pay periods — a practice known as trading time — without affecting their pay or annual leave, and in so doing, remedied a longstanding disparity between federal firefighters and their state, local and municipal counterparts,” the letter states. “We write today, however, because of concerns that implementation has been delayed at the Department, leaving federal firefighters in various components without the opportunity to utilize the trade time policies as the law provides.”

The letter continues that the lawmakers have a shared goal of ensuring proper access to workplace policies authorized in law “and promoting sustainable working conditions for our federal firefighters, we request an update on the status and expected timeline for the implementation of the federal firefighter trading time policy at DoD. We look forward to a response on the Department’s implementation of trade time policies and to working to promote strong workforce policies that build on this policy’s success and help us recruit and retain a strong federal firefighting force.”