For several years, the agency has talked about wanting employees to get the help they need when they are experiencing mental health issues, but they’ve routinely failed to address one big problem — the immediate revocation of law enforcement authority and the loss of pay that comes with it.
Due, in part, to the recent increase in suicides, the NBPC has finally gotten CBP to agree that when an employee notifies the agency that they are voluntarily seeking help for mental health issues, they will not lose their LEO authority.
Although the agency might hold onto the employee’s agency-issued firearm, they will keep their overtime pay. This allows a useful employee to remain useful but also avoids making things worse for them by reducing their pay.
CBP is going to push out guidance to the sectors about this soon, but if you know of someone who voluntarily seeks mental health treatment and the agency revokes their law enforcement authority, notify a union rep immediately so we can investigate the matter.
We hope this will be just the first step in a much-needed process to help employees get the mental health treatment they deserve.