[Senate Hearing 113-443]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 113-443
NOMINATION OF HON. JULIA A. CLARK
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HEARING
before the
COMMITTEE ON
HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
NOMINATION OF HON. JULIA A. CLARK, TO BE GENERAL COUNSEL, FEDERAL LABOR
RELATIONS AUTHORITY
__________
APRIL 29, 2014
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov/
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Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
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COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware Chairman
CARL LEVIN, Michigan TOM COBURN, Oklahoma
MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri ROB PORTMAN, Ohio
JON TESTER, Montana RAND PAUL, Kentucky
MARK BEGICH, Alaska MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming
TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire
HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota
John P. Kilvington, Acting Staff Director
Deirdre G. Armstrong, Professional Staff Member
Stephanie A. Wilkinson, Counsel, Subcommittee on the Efficiency and
Effectiveness of Federal Programs and the Federal Workforce
Keith B. Ashdown, Minority Staff Director
Christopher J. Barkley, Minority Deputy Staff Director
Andrew C. Dockham, Minority Chief Counsel
Sally Anne Braeuer, Minority Counsel
Darien B. Flowers, Minority Research Assistant, Subcommittee on the
Efficiency and Effectiveness of Federal Programs and the Federal
Workforce
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Lauren M. Corcoran, Hearing Clerk
C O N T E N T S
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Opening statements:
Page
Senator Tester............................................... 1
Senator Portman.............................................. 2
Prepared statement:
Senator Tester............................................... 13
WITNESSES
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Hon. Julia A. Clark, Nominated to be General Counsel, Federal
Labor Relations Authority
Testimony.................................................... 3
Prepared statement........................................... 14
Biographical and financial information....................... 18
Letter from the Office of Government Ethics.................. 33
Responses to pre-hearing questions........................... 35
NOMINATION OF HON. JULIA A. CLARK
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TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2014
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:32 p.m., in
room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Jon Tester,
presiding.
Present: Senators Tester and Portman.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR TESTER
Senator Tester. I will call to order this hearing of the
Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
We convene this afternoon's hearing to consider the
nomination of Julia Clark to serve as the General Counsel of
the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA).
Julia Clark has filed responses to a biographical and
financial questionnaire, answered prehearing questions
submitted by the Committee, and has had her financial
statements reviewed by the Office of Government Ethics (OGE).
Without objection, this information will be made part of the
hearing record,\1\ with the exception of the financial data,
which are on file and available for public inspection in the
Committee offices.
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\1\ Information referred to by Senator Tester appears in the
Appendix on page 18.
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Julia Clark currently serves as General Counsel (GC) for
the Federal Labor Relations Authority and has been in this
position since 2009. Julia started her legal career at the
Department of Justice (DOJ) and brought over 20 years of labor
law experience to the FLRA. Thank you, Julia, for joining us
today.
Senator Portman obviously is not here yet. He is en route,
and when he gets here, we will certainly respect his
opportunity to give an opening statement, but we will continue
on with our Committee agenda.
Our Committee rules require that all witnesses at
nominations hearings give their testimony under oath. Ms.
Clark, would you please stand and raise your right hand.
Do you swear that the testimony you are about to give to
the Committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth, so help you, God?
Ms. Clark. I do.
Senator Tester. Let the record reflect that the witness
answered in the affirmative.
With that, I will turn it over to Senator Portman for his
opening statement.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR PORTMAN
Senator Portman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You just went
through the hardest part of this hearing. [Laughter.]
I appreciate the fact that Chairman Carper and Ranking
Member Coburn asked us to hold this hearing, and Senator
Tester, as usual, took responsibility. We thank you for being
here to answer some of our questions. We want to tell you that
we are here to ask you questions and be sure you are the right
person for the job, but we are impressed with your public
service. I know you went through this back in 2009, so you have
experienced a nomination and a confirmation process.
This is a critical juncture for the Federal Labor Relations
Authority, because after a lot of years of significant backlogs
and low employee morale, it appears that the agency is finally
turning things around. Back in 2009, when you were just
starting at FLRA, there was a backlog of nearly a thousand
unfair labor practice (ULP) complaints and appeals cases. I am
told that backlog has now been almost completely eliminated. I
want to hear about that issue from you. If you are confirmed,
my understanding is one of your top priorities would be to
continue to process cases in a timely and efficient manner.
One of the most important factors, as we see, in addressing
the backlog was the Office of General Counsel's (OGC) decision
in 2010 to amend its regulations to authorize alternative
dispute resolution (ADR), and I want to talk to you about that.
I think that is a good approach to save litigation time and
valuable resources, so in my view that is a good policy change
and we want it to continue. I want to ask you about that.
I would say, even with these successes, the recent history
of the FLRA has not been without its challenges. We are all
aware the Authority came in dead last on the Partnership for
Public Service's ``Best Places to Work in the Federal
Government'' survey in 2005, 2007, and 2009. It seems like you
have made some strides in terms of your internal management and
now you rank No. 8 out of 29 small agencies for employee
satisfaction. I was concerned to see employee satisfaction fall
in a number of important areas between 2012 and 2013, including
in the ``performance-based rewards and advancement'' area, and
the ``effective leadership'' area.
I am sure we will be able to talk about some of these
issues and can agree that more can be done to ensure efficiency
and effectiveness fulfilling your responsibility at FLRA to
foster lawful and productive relations between Federal
employees and government managers. We look forward to
discussing those issues and other issues with you this
afternoon.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Tester. Thank you, Senator Portman. I appreciate
your comments.
Ms. Clark, you will have 5 minutes for your oral statement.
Please note that your entire written statement will be a part
of the record. With that, you may begin.
TESTIMONY OF THE HONORABLE JULIA A. CLARK,\1\ NOMINATED TO BE
GENERAL COUNSEL, FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY
Ms. Clark. Thank you, Chairman Tester, Ranking Member
Portman. It is a privilege to have the opportunity to appear
before you again and report on the accomplishments of the
Office of the General Counsel since I was here in 2009.
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\1\ The prepared statement of Ms. Clark appears in the Appendix on
page 14.
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As Senator Portman mentioned, at that time when I was last
here, the General Counsel's position had been vacant for a
prolonged period of time, resulting in a daunting backlog of
complaint and appeals cases. At that time, we suffered a 40
percent reduction in the OGC staffing level. There were many
vacancies. Our case processing performance was at a historic
low. Our public education and information resources were
virtually nonexistent. And, sadly, our employee morale was at
an unacceptable low point.
And while I identified these deficiencies as priorities
when I was here in 2009 and I vowed to address them, I could
not know then what I know now about OGC career employees'
capability and commitment to addressing these looming
challenges.
The Office of General Counsel Regional Office employees
provide labor relations dispute resolution services directly to
Federal employees, union representatives, and management
representatives. They are the first point of contact. OGC
employees handle over 90 percent of all the cases filed at the
FLRA. Their commitment to the OGC mission and tireless efforts
were key to our success. They have my deep respect and
appreciation and deserve the credit for OGC's remarkable
accomplishments over the past 5 years.
To support them, when I came to the agency, I decided early
to direct our limited hiring ability to front-line regional
office vacancies. I also adopted recommendations from our
career staff to streamline case processes and make more
efficient use of technology. Most importantly, as Senator
Portman reflected, we decided to integrate the alternative
dispute resolution opportunities into all stages of our case
processes.
Our ADR processing has proven to be particularly effective
and enduring and the results are measurable and positive. Our
ULP case processing has improved by every measure. Our
productivity is up 25 percent. Our timeliness improved from 49
percent to 68 percent. At the same time, our ULP case filings
increased over 25 percent and now are holding steady at about
4,600 per year.
Our employee morale improved quickly and dramatically,
although there is always room for improvement, and I am looking
forward to the opportunity to talk about what we can do to
continue to improve.
But, the Office of General Counsel is now the leading
source of information regarding Federal unfair labor practice
and representation case processing law and practice. We have
comprehensive manuals, resources, case law outlines, policy
guidance, and self-paced tutorials that are available to the
public 24/7.
Also, our regional office employees provide classroom-style
education and training on a regular basis and also in response
to joint labor-management requests. Over the last 5 years, that
staff, who is also processing ULP cases and representation
cases, managed to train 15,000 participants in training
sessions nationwide.
We have also accomplished what we have accomplished by
leveraging resources through interagency agreements and
collaborations to expand our education and ADR activities.
Through a 2010 partnership with the Federal Mediation and
Conciliation Service (FMCS), we developed training to support
Executive Order (EO) 13522, and in those training sessions, in
an 18-month period, FMCS and our regional office employees were
able to train another 6,000 labor-management representatives in
150 sessions. We developed that training into an online
tutorial for folks who were not able to attend our sessions.
That is still available.
We have continued our partnership with the FMCS to support
the mission of the National Council on Federal Labor-Management
Relations. We have also entered into shared resource agreements
with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department
of Defense (DOD) to develop online training that addresses
every aspect of the law and practice that we are responsible
for. The wonderful thing about these shared resource agreements
is that we were able to partner with much larger agencies who
had instructional designers and technological studios, and
provide the content so that there can be a neutral presentation
of the kinds of information that managers, union
representatives, and employees need. In addition to that
partnership, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has
posted our tutorials on their Human Resources University, so
they are available 24/7.
We still have ongoing challenges, the ones mentioned by
Senator Portman, such as succession planning. We are a very
small agency. Our hiring ability has been very limited. So, the
development of new leaders has been a priority and is a
challenge, but one that we have developed a strategy to meet.
Also, managing to continue to maintain a high level of
productivity and efficiency and morale is a challenge that is
ongoing and that we have to pay attention to all the time.
Our management culture that we cultivate and nurture is one
that vigilantly examines our processes, reexamines them, looks
for potential improvements, but also continuously engages our
front-line staff in this deliberative process.
I believe that the Office of General Counsel is well
positioned to sustain and enhance its contribution to
productive, stable, and efficient labor-management relations
throughout the government. It would be an honor and a privilege
to continue to lead the Office of General Counsel as we meet
these challenges and serve the public interest.
Senator Tester. Well, thank you for your testimony, Julia,
and I am going to start my questioning with the standard
questions, three in all, that we ask all nominees, then I will
turn it over to Senator Portman for his.
Is there anything that you are aware of in your background
that might present a conflict of interest with the duties of
the office to which you have been nominated?
Ms. Clark. No.
Senator Tester. Do you know of anything, personal or
otherwise, that would in any way prevent you from fully and
honorably discharging the responsibilities of the office to
which you have been nominated?
Ms. Clark. No.
Senator Tester. Do you agree, without reservation, to
respond to any reasonable summons to appear and testify before
any duly constituted Committee of Congress if you are
confirmed?
Ms. Clark. Yes.
Senator Tester. Thank you, and you may proceed, Senator
Portman.
Senator Portman. Great. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thanks for
your indulgence.
You talked a little bit about this in your opening
statement and you have more even in your written comments, but
getting back to the case backlog issue and how you got about a
thousand complaints and appeal cases resolved that were subject
to the backlog when you took the job in 2009, you say that a
number of management factors, you believe, contributed to
reducing the backlog. You talk about strategic hiring
decisions, streamlined case processes, and more effective use
of technology. However, you note that the Authority's
alternative dispute resolution, ADR initiatives, and I am
quoting you here, ``have proven particularly effective and
enduring.''
As I said earlier, I am supportive of ADR, particularly in
this context, and I just want to know a little bit about why
you think it works. You made a decision in the office to
implement this new policy. Was this something that you decided
to do, or was it something that your predecessor put in place?
What has your role been at the Office of General Counsel in
authorizing these ADR activities?
Ms. Clark. The ADR activities that we engage in now
required a change to our regulations. We reinstituted a
regulatory policy that had been in place previously but was not
in place at the time I came to the job. It was something that I
intended to do and looked on very favorably, but consulted with
career staff about their experience under those regulatory
changes, both when ADR was permitted in the earliest stages of
the processes and when it was prohibited, and I felt very clear
that allowing for ADR early was the right thing to do and I
authorized and directed that we go in that direction, which we
did very quickly.
Senator Portman. How important was that in terms of getting
the backlog out?
Ms. Clark. The backlog itself that occurred because of the
General Counsel vacancy involved cases that had been fully
investigated. Complaints had been authorized, but complaints
had not been issued. And only by confirming and appointing a
General Counsel could those cases go forward. ADR played a big
role in resolving that backlog quickly, because at that point,
the career staff was in the position to work with the agencies
and the unions to resolve them.
But the real difference in terms of instituting ADR as a
regular part of our work was allowing for ADR to begin at the
moment a case walks in our door, at the moment a charge is
filed. A charge is the first point of contact in our regional
offices. The regulations permitted our field agents to offer
ADR services at the moment when they begin investigating a
case. The offer is voluntary. It makes clear to both the
management and the union representatives that engaging in
alternative dispute resolution is at their choice.
But the offer is not a one-time deal. Not only was a
regulatory change made, our agents were trained in ADR
techniques and ADR techniques as they apply to our process so
that while they are involved in the case process,
investigating, taking witness statements, they are continuously
open to and offering ADR services and looking to what the
underlying dispute is, what are the interests of the parties,
and how can we resolve whatever the concerns are at the
earliest possible stage, and hopefully with the least amount of
formal case processing. And many cases are resolved simply by a
private settlement in this way.
Senator Portman. Do you think more training of labor
representatives and management representatives would be helpful
to encourage even more use of ADR?
Ms. Clark. I absolutely do. And, in fact, our partnership
with the Federal Mediation Conciliation Service has been
extremely helpful in this regard. That agency has a statutory
responsibility with respect to collective bargaining in the
Federal sector, and the Office of General Counsel started a
partnership with them, partly in the context of the Executive
Order, but since then, we do joint training with them on the
front line, but we also work with the FMCS in interventions in
particularly troubled relationships. But, we make a good team
and that kind of training, I believe, is extremely helpful.
Senator Portman. That is good for the Committee to know.
Again, I believe that it is very useful, not in every case, but
more training, probably, to understand the consequences of
going through it, and having the option to pull back if you
feel like you need full-blown litigation.
Ms. Clark. Right.
Senator Portman. That helps. On the morale issue, looking
at all this data, it is a little confusing to me, because you
have this latest survey. Last year, 2013 finds a drop,
actually, in employee satisfaction as it relates to what is
called ``performance-based rewards and advancement,'' and that
number was not very high to begin with. You had a 57.7 there.
What would that be, a ``C''?
Ms. Clark. Yes.
Senator Portman. So, what accounts for that apparent
disconnect? Otherwise, since 2009, you seem to have had a
positive impact on the culture there. There have been
improvements in employee satisfaction. And yet, ``performance-
based rewards and advancement'' seems to be flat and going down
a little bit. What do you think about that? What do you think
it is due to?
Ms. Clark. I think there is a general issue throughout
government, and I see it in real life at our agency, and that
there has been a limit on the extent to which we can reward
employees for their performance.
In our agency, or the part that I am responsible for, for
example, we have a performance management system that is
quantifiable and objective in terms of productivity,
timeliness, and quality. Our staff is measured that way. Our
managers are measured on the aggregate performance of the
people they supervise. It is all by the numbers. They do a
great job. They exceed their goals.
But, we have very limited ability to reward them for their
exceptional service. And while thank yous help, it also helps
to be rewarded through the performance award system and we have
not been in a position to offer financial awards for some time.
And in terms of advancement, I am hopeful that our survey
will look better next year in that regard. We are in a position
where we have done a lot of developmental activities, employee
development, developing new leaders. So, I am hopeful that
there will be some better results there. But, I do believe a
real problem has been our inability to reward employees in a
tangible way for their exceptional performance.
Particularly in this case, our agency is much smaller than
it was in the past, and while we have many new employees, most
people remember a time when ratios of cases filed to agents
were much lower, maybe even 50 percent lower than what an agent
is expected to do now. So, they are under a lot of pressure and
we have a limited ability to reward them for their exceptional
performance under pressure.
Senator Portman. Yes. In your testimony, you talk about
wanting to provide more advancement opportunities. I assume
that means trying to manage the people you have more
effectively----
Ms. Clark. Yes.
Senator Portman [continuing]. To create some openings and
to promote people who have shown through performance reviews
that they are doing exceptional work.
I would say the budget issues are going to be tough here on
everything, but Fiscal Year 2013, direct obligations: $23.4
million; Fiscal Year 2014, direct obligations estimated to be
$25.5 million. Some agencies would die for that percentage
increase. And I know that the personnel budget is huge--about
75 percent of your budget--but there are agencies that are
actually freezing or reducing employee numbers and you are
talking about a 14 percent increase and a 25 percent increase
from staffing levels in 2009. I would like to ask one question
and then I will turn it back to the Chairman. Thanks for your
time. Do you think that is necessary and justifiable?
Ms. Clark. The budget we have now is absolutely necessary.
It provides an opportunity for us to increase our staffing,
which is one of the best ways we have to allow our employees a
more manageable workload.
For my part, the allocation that is provided to the Office
of General Counsel, from the very beginning and continuing,
will be directed toward hiring at the front line, hiring at the
regional office level for field agents. I believe that is the
right thing to do. In addition to that, we have been building a
developmental process that allows for our front line agents to
be trained, but also for our senior agents to develop their
leadership potential and be in a position to take on the
managers' roles in those offices.
But, I think, with respect to the funding, we have gotten
by with a very limited staff and done as well as we have for
the past 5 years primarily because so many of our employees who
had been with the agency for a long time, some from the very
beginning--hung in there and were in a very good position to
make the system work, even by being understaffed. This increase
allows us to rebuild our staffing to a level that hopefully
will allow us to sustain this kind of performance into the
future.
And I do believe that the increase was warranted,
particularly in light of the fact that we were so severely cut
well before the budget cuts that occurred over the last several
years. So, we have been restored, but probably to a level that
is still below the level that most agencies are at now.
Senator Portman. I thank you for that answer. Mr. Chairman,
I have no other questions for the nominee, but I will listen to
yours we appreciate your service, Ms. Clark, since 2009, and we
hope you will continue to focus on not just reducing the
backlog, but improving the morale and making the agency work
well for management and labor representatives. Thanks.
Ms. Clark. Thank you.
Senator Tester. Thank you, Senator Portman.
Julia, first of all, I want to say, thank you for your
service and I am very pleased of your willingness to serve
another stretch in this job. And I hope to get you moving
sooner than later through the pipeline.
But, getting back to my statement, you have been in the
position for 5 years. What makes you want to go back and do it
again?
Ms. Clark. Five years goes by faster than you think, maybe,
and I do not think it is just because of my young age. We have
a lot to do, and I can say that in the past 5 years, we have
just now gotten to a level of functioning so that we are not
racing at a breakneck speed but can actually begin laying a
foundation that will be solid enough to sustain this
organization, this part of this organization, well into the
future. We have great plans and much still to accomplish.
To Senator Portman's point, coming from the private sector
before I took this job, I was and still am a very strong
believer in the role of this agency in facilitating the parties
that come to us and helping them resolve their differences and
move on to do the public interest. There is more that we can do
in that regard and I really would welcome the opportunity to
continue to do it.
Senator Tester. Senator Portman talked about the backlog,
and you have done a great job in reducing that backlog. Can you
give me an idea on any initiatives you are working on at this
point in time or plan to work on that will continue to improve
the timeliness of management of cases?
Ms. Clark. In terms of timeliness, this is the highest
priority for me and others in our agency. It is my view that
resolving disputes quickly so that the parties can get back to
their work is what needs to happen.
Some of what we are doing in terms of timeliness is just
pure scientific facts. We need to continue to move our
resources to the front line because that is where it happens.
We need to continue to train our workforce. We are also
involved in some pilot programs to look at our case processes
and find ways to move them along more quickly. We are
developing initiatives.
In fact, today, several employees that might have liked to
be here just to see you and listen to you are not here because
we are engaged in some intensive training of all of our
employees, again, on alternative dispute resolution techniques,
and in particular, the art and science of listening and finding
resolutions that serve the public interest, but also train the
people who come before us so that maybe they will be able to
resolve their own problems the next time.
In addition to that, we are developing our use of online
meetings that will facilitate taking witness statements,
negotiating settlements, prehearing conferences in real time.
That saves a lot of time in terms of sending witness
statements, affidavits to be signed, documents back and forth,
and I think that will make some tremendous improvements, as
well.
Senator Tester. Thank you. Can you talk a little bit about
hiring and retention and what trends you have seen in these
areas?
Ms. Clark. I think our agency has a tremendous retention
rate. The people who come to this agency have a commitment and
an understanding of what they do as being fundamental to good
government. So, our retention rates are good. I think that we
understand how the work gets done and who is really responsible
for it. So, I think that has actually been one of our strongest
points.
Senator Tester. How about transparency? What role does it
play in your work?
Ms. Clark. Transparency--well, that has been also very
important to the way I wanted to do business. All of our case
handling manuals, every guidance, every process that our field
agents follow are published and online in the most accessible
format, hyperlinked to our statutes, our decisions, so that
anyone who comes before our agency can follow along and
understand what our agents are doing, the policies that we
follow, and the way we exercise our judgment and discretion.
Senator Tester. Before coming to the FLRA, you spent your
career as a trial attorney at the Department of Justice. How
has this experience helped you in your role as General Counsel?
Ms. Clark. That was my first job out of law school, and I
think the first thing I learned about government through being
at the Department of Justice is the incredible responsibility,
the incredible authority, and the incredible power of the
Federal Government and what an enormous responsibility that is
when you are put in the position of carrying out a law passed
by Congress, and in particular, a prosecutorial function. The
Justice Department was a tremendous training ground for a
lawyer and I am really very fortunate to have had that
experience and to be able to bring it to the role that I play
now.
Senator Tester. And now you have spent 5 years as General
Counsel. What lessons from that service will shape your job
over your next tenure?
Ms. Clark. I think the most important lesson that I have
learned as being General Counsel has been the importance that
the civil service, that career staff play in the functioning of
government and upholding the laws and the Constitution. The
career staff at our agency are some of the most bright,
dedicated, open, flexible, adaptable people I have ever run
across, and their ability--many of them, having been there
since the agency was created, working under every
Administration since the agency was created--their ability to
come to me with well thought out plans, to answer the questions
that I had and the questions I should have had, was just a
remarkable experience and I will thoroughly enjoy working with
them in the future.
And the other important lesson that I wanted to reflect on
is that while I had been a union representative as a labor
lawyer for many years of my life, I had been a union member, I
have been a management representative, but I think that I most
fully appreciated the importance of a unionized workplace in
terms of offering constructive and helpful information when I
took this job. And I would like to say that the union at our
agency has been incredibly influential in terms of helping me
understand a direction, letting me know when I have made a
mistake, and I have had that wonderful experience of deciding
that it is not a sign of weakness to acknowledge a mistake and
take a different direction.
So, I would say those two things, the incredible career
service and also the value of having an independent union in
the workplace.
Senator Tester. And, finally, and we do hope that your
confirmation will occur quickly, but if you could, as concise
as you can, talk about what your short-term and long-term
priorities are going to be for the FLRA over the next while
that you are in this position.
Ms. Clark. All right. I think ongoing, both short-term and
long-term: succession planning. Those wonderful career
employees that I have been talking about, well, they are going
to retire, and many of them soon. We have an employee
development, leadership development program in place, and now
it is not just ad hoc but it is a systematic program and it
will be ongoing.
The other longer-term priority is to reduce our case
processing time. Right now, our performance time targets are
120 days. That is of fairly recent origin. That is the time
target that was in place when I took this job. But for the most
time in our history, the time targets in the Office of General
Counsel were 90 days and the performance against that target
was 85 percent. As I said earlier in my remarks, when I came to
this job, we were only hitting the target, 120-day target, 49
percent of the time. With current staffing, we have been able
to move up to 68 percent of the time. Yet, it is my firm belief
that a 90-day time target is really what is in the best
interest of the public. So, finding a way with the resources we
have to reduce our time target to 90 days and to perform well
against that target is the long-term priority.
Senator Tester. Senator Portman, do you have any further
questions?
Senator Portman. [Shakes head no.]
Senator Tester. OK. I just want to thank you for your
testimony. I want to thank you for your clarity in answering
the questions. As I said when I opened up my questions, I
certainly appreciate your commitment to public service and
thank you for wanting to sign up again for this job.
With that, Senator Portman, do you have any closing
comments?
Senator Portman. No, just that we appreciate the
opportunity to be here as surrogates of the Chair and Ranking
Member of the full Committee. Our Subcommittee on the
Efficiency and Effectiveness of Federal Programs and the
Federal Workforce, as you know, is very involved in the issue
of management of the Federal workforce, so I think it is
appropriate we are following these issues like the backlog
issue.
We appreciate your coming in today, and again, we
appreciate your service since 2009. We hope you will be able to
continue to make progress. As you said, there are some clear
successes you have had in terms of clearing backlogs, but there
is also plenty of work to be done----
Ms. Clark. Yes.
Senator Portman [continuing]. Including keeping the morale
up and ensuring we have, as you said earlier, the maximum
opportunity for people to resolve their issues and get back to
work.
Ms. Clark. Right.
Senator Portman. So, thank you, Ms. Clark.
Ms. Clark. Thank you.
Senator Tester. Thank you, Senator Portman.
It is fair to say now that the hearing record will remain
open for 24 hours for any additional comments and for any
questions that might be submitted for the record.
With that, once again, we thank you, Julia, for your
willingness to serve, and this hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:10 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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