Social Security Administration and AFGE Local 3369 (Authority decision, March 25, 1986)

Final FLRA decision. This is a final Authority order on exceptions to an arbitration award under 5 U.S.C. § 7122. Judicial review in a court of appeals is excluded by 5 U.S.C. § 7123(a)(1) because this order does not involve an unfair labor practice under 5 U.S.C. § 7118.

Plain-English summary

An arbitrator found that the Social Security Administration's agreement with AFGE Local 3369 required payment for the local union president's trip to Washington to visit union and congressional officials. The agency argued that the arbitrator misread the agreement and that federal labor law barred the payment. The Authority rejected those arguments, holding that the negotiated obligation had not been shown to conflict with management rights or official time rules. It modified the award to allow reimbursement only to the extent the expenses met the Federal Travel Regulations.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Management rights under 5 U.S.C. § 7106(a), official time under § 7131, and Federal Travel Regulations.
• Outcome: Agency exceptions denied; travel and per diem award modified to follow federal travel rules.
• Key point: A contract-based union travel payment still must satisfy applicable federal travel requirements.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v21 p120 ]

21:0120(23)AR

The decision of the Authority follows:

21 FLRA No. 23

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN
SERVICES, SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
Agency

and

LOCAL 3369, AMERICAN FEDERATION
OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES
Union

Case No. 0-AR-454

DECISION

I. STATEMENT OF THE CASE

This matter is before the Authority on exceptions to the award of Arbitrator Jesse Simons filed by the Agency under section 7122(a) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute and part 2425 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations.

II. BACKGROUND AND ARBITRATOR'S AWARD

The parties submitted to arbitration the issue of whether management was justified under the parties' collective bargaining agreement or under applicable law or regulation in refusing to pay travel and per diem expenses of the local union president in the amount of $118.00 for a one-day trip to Washington, D.C., to visit officials of the National Union and Congress. The Arbitrator sustained the grievance finding that the Activity's refusal to pay travel and per diem was wholly untenable under the provisions of the parties' agreement and was not supportable under any cited law or regulation. Accordingly, as his award, the Arbitrator ruled that the refusal of management to pay the disputed expenses was violative of the parties' agreement and that the refusal was not mandated by any law or regulation, and he therefore directed management to pay the local union president the sum of $116.00.

III. FIRST, SECOND, AND THIRD EXCEPTIONS

A. Contentions

In its initial exceptions, the Agency contends that the award is based on a nonfact and fails to draw its essence from the collective bargaining agreement and that the Arbitrator exceeded his authority. The Agency's arguments in support of these exceptions are essentially the same. The Agency essentially argues that the award is deficient in these respects because the Arbitrator erroneously interpreted the parties' collective bargaining agreement as providing a basis on which to award the payment of travel and per diem. The Agency's position is that the Arbitrator could not properly have interpreted the provisions of the parties' agreement to find that the Agency violated the agreement in refusing to pay the disputed travel and per diem expenses.

B. Analysis and Conclusions

The Authority concludes that these exceptions constitute nothing more than disagreement with the Arbitrator's interpretation and application of the parties' collective bargaining agreement. The Arbitrator clearly interpreted the parties' agreement to encompass travel and per diem payments. Thus, the Agency in these exceptions is clearly seeking to have its own interpretation of the parties' collective bargaining agreement substituted for that of the Arbitrator and the Authority has uniformly held that such exceptions provide no basis for finding an arbitration award deficient. E.g., National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 1418 and U.S. International Communication Agency, Voice of America, 9 FLRA 980 (1982). Accordingly, these exceptions are denied.

IV. FINAL EXCEPTION

A. Contentions

In its final exception the Agency contends that the award is contrary to the Statute. Specifically, the Agency maintains that the award is contrary to management's right to determine the mission and budget of the agency under section 7106(a) and is contrary to the official time provisions of section 7131. However, the sole argument of the Agency in support of this exception is again that the Arbitrator has erroneously interpreted the parties' collective bargaining agreement as providing a basis on which to award the payment of travel and per diem.

B. Analysis and Conclusions

The Authority concludes that this exception fails to establish that the award is deficient as alleged by the Agency. In National Treasury Employees Union and Department of the Treasury, U.S. Customs Service, 21 FLRA No. 2 (1986), the Authority found the following proposal to be within the duty to bargain:

The employer agrees to pay the travel expenses incurred by employees while using official time available under the terms of this agreement.

In finding the proposal to be within the duty to bargain, the Authority stated that the Statute is silent on whether travel expenses incurred in the conduct of labor-management relations activity are payable from federal funds and that the proposal did not conflict with the right of the agency to determine its budget under section 7108 because there was no substantial demonstration that the proposal would result in a significant and unavoidable increase in costs. Id. at 3, 7-8. In this case, the Authority similarly concludes that the Arbitrator's interpretation of the parties' agreement to find management's refusal to pay the disputed travel and per diem expenses to be unjustified has not been shown to be contrary to the right of the Agency to determine its mission or budget under section 7106 or to be contrary to the official time provisions of section 7131. Moreover, other than its bare assertion, the Agency has made no showing that the award interferes in any way with the Agency's right to determine its mission. Rather, in arguing that the Arbitrator erroneously interpreted the parties' agreement, the Agency is again clearly disagreeing with the Arbitrator's interpretation and application of that agreement which provides no basis for finding the award deficient.

Additionally, in finding the proposal in U.S. Customs Service to be within the duty to bargain, the Authority concluded that the proposal would not require the agency to authorize the payment of expenses which do not comport with regulatory requirements and restrictions. Id. at 6. The Authority based its conclusion upon the union's acknowledgment that payment of any travel expenses flowing from the proposal, if agreed upon, would be subject to the provisions of the Federal Travel Regulations (FTRs). /1/ In this case, the Arbitrator in directing the payment of travel and Per diem expenses in the amount of $116.00 has not expressly provided for agency determinations regarding the propriety under the FTRs of travel and per diem expenses in that amount. Consequently, the Authority must modify the award to assure that it is consistent with the requirements of the FTRs.

DECISION

Accordingly, pursuant to section 2425.4 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations and for the reasons stated above, that portion of the award directing the payment of $116.00 is modified to provide as follows:

The local union president is entitled to payment of his travel and per diem expenses for his representational activities in question insofar as consistent with applicable requirements of the Federal Travel Regulations. Jerry L. Calhoun, Chairman Henry B. Frazier III, Member FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY