Section 6.1

Section 6.1 General Principles

Each employee who is employed in the regular work force as of the date of the Award of Arbitrator James J. Healy, September 15, 1978, shall be protected henceforth against any involuntary layoff or force reduction.
1. It is the intent of this provision to provide security to each such employee during his or her work lifetime.
2. Members of the regular work force, as defined in Article 7 of the Agreement, include full-time regulars, part-time employees assigned to regular schedules and part-time employees assigned to flexible schedules.
1. Employees who become members of the regular work force after the date of this Award, September 15, 1978, shall be provided the same protection afforded under Section 6.1A1 above on completion of six years of continuous service and having worked in at least 20 pay periods during each of the six years.
2. With respect to employees hired into the regular work force after the date of this Award and who have not acquired the protection provided under Section 6.1B above, the Employer shall have the right to effect layoffs for lack of work or for other legitimate rea- sons. This right may be exercised in lieu of reassigning employees under the provisions of Article 12, except as such right may be modified by agreement. Should the exercise of the employer's right to lay off employees require the application of the provisions of Chapter 35 of Title 5, United States Code, employees covered by that Chapter with less than three years of continuous civilian federal service will be treated as "career conditional" employees.

The Employer's right as established in this section shall be effective July 20, 1979. The following terms as to the employees' and employer's rights and the rules and procedures to be followed in the implementation of Article 6 are a part of the September 15, 1978 Final Resolution and shall be final and binding upon the parties:

[See Memo, page 132]

---

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING ARTICLE 6 - LAYOFF PROTECTION

Each employee who is employed in the regular work force as of September 20, 2019, and who has not acquired the protection provided under Article 6 shall be protected henceforth against any involuntary layoff or force reduction during the term of this Agreement. It is the intent of this Memorandum of Understanding to provide job security to each such employee during the term of this Agreement; however, in the event Congress repeals or significantly relaxes the Private Express Statutes this Memorandum shall expire upon the enactment of such legislation. In addition, nothing in this Memorandum of Understanding shall diminish the rights of any bargaining-unit employees under Article 6. Since this Memorandum of Understanding is being entered into on a nonprecedential basis, it shall terminate for all purposes at, midnight September 20, 2022 and may not be cited or used in any subsequent dispute resolution proceedings.