What is a Title 38 Employee?
When exploring your SF-50, you might have noticed that you fall under one of these categories: Title 5, Hybrid or Title 38. Depending on the category you fall under, different laws will govern all aspects of your position. This is important as these laws dictate how far your employee rights can go. Title 38 employees have the most amount of regulations to those professions, which means that there are limitations to our rights. 8 professions fall under Title 38: Physicians, Podiatrists, RNs, CRNAs, NPs, Optometrists, Dentists, and Chiropractors. The main difference between Title 38 employees and the rest is that Title 38's provide direct patient care. Direct patient care is heavily protected under the law, placing limitations on the amount of things we are allowed to bargain.
What is the importance of Union membership for Title 38s? Without the Union, the agency can try to argue that just about anything is related to patient care, even as we speak they do it now, the only difference is that the Union knows how to fight against unfounded claims. When the agency tries to invoke a 38 U.S.C. 7422, the Union is there to make sure this is correct, try to initiate an appeal process when applicable and ensure that employees are treated fairly and without reprisal. At our local, we have Union Representatives that specialize in matters relating to Title 38 employees, if you find yourself in a situation, make sure to notify our office and let us know that you are a Title 38 employee so we may connect you with one of our Title 38 Reps.