American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2408 and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Medical Center, San Juan, Puerto Rico (Authority decision, June 30, 1998)

Final FLRA decision. The Authority denies the union's exceptions to an arbitration award. Under 5 U.S.C. § 7123(a)(1), an order involving an arbitral award is generally excluded from judicial review unless it involves an unfair labor practice under 5 U.S.C. § 7116. This decision does not identify an unfair labor practice issue.

Plain-English summary

AFGE Local 2408 challenged an arbitrator's award concerning a labor relations specialist's attendance at grievance meetings at the San Juan VA Medical Center. The arbitrator had found no violation of the parties' agreement. The Authority denied the union's exceptions, finding no statutory ground to disturb the award. It said the union's cited provision on an employee's grievance and appeal rights was unrelated to this dispute. The release supplies no further account of the meetings or the arbitrator's reasoning.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Arbitration review under 5 U.S.C. § 7122(a); asserted grievance rights provision at § 7114(a)(5)(B).
• Outcome: Union's exceptions denied; arbitration award left in place.
• Key point: The cited employee grievance rights provision did not address the specialist's attendance at these meetings.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v54 p502 ]
54:0502(51)AR

The decision of the Authority follows:

54 FLRA No. 51

FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

_____

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES

LOCAL 2408

(Union)

and

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

MEDICAL CENTER

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO

(Agency)

0-AR-3059

_____

DECISION

June 30, 1998

_____

Before the Authority: Phyllis N. Segal, Chair;
Donald S. Wasserman and Dale Cabaniss, Members.

This matter is before the Authority on exceptions to an award of Arbitrator Richard L. Kanner filed by the Union under section 7122(a) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (the Statute) and part 2425 of the Authority's Regulations. The Agency filed an opposition to the Union's exceptions.

Under section 7122(a) of the Statute, an award is deficient if it is contrary to any law, rule, or regulation; or it is deficient on other grounds similar to those applied by Federal courts in private sector labor-management relations. Upon careful consideration of the entire record in this case, the Authority concludes that the award is not deficient on any of the grounds raised in the exceptions and set forth in section 7122(a).(*)

Accordingly, the Union's exceptions are denied.

FOOTNOTES:
(If blank, the decision does not
have footnotes.)

*/ The Union's exception that the award
conflicts with section 7114(a)(5)(B) of the Statute is unsupported. The Arbitrator found that the Agency did not violate the parties' agreement by permitting a labor relations specialist to attend certain grievance meetings. Section 7114(a)(5)(B), by its terms, concerns an employee's right to exercise grievance and appeal rights, a matter that is unrelated to this grievance. Similarly, the Agency's reliance on section 7114(a)(2)(A) of the Statute is misplaced because that section concerns a union's right to be represented at "formal discussions," a matter that also is unrelated to the grievance.