National Treasury Employees Union and Treasury Financial Management Service (Authority decision, July 31, 1986)

Final FLRA decision. The Authority orders the agency to bargain over the proposal upon request. An aggrieved person may petition an appropriate United States court of appeals for review within 60 days after issuance under 5 U.S.C. § 7123(a).

Plain-English summary

NTEU proposed that Treasury reimburse travel and per diem for employee negotiators. Treasury argued that the proposal fell outside conditions of employment and conflicted with law or regulations. The Authority read the proposal as covering employee negotiators on official time and found that Treasury had discretion to decide when their travel served official business. It held the proposal negotiable and ordered Treasury to bargain upon request.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: 5 U.S.C. § 7103(a)(14), 5 U.S.C. § 7105(a)(2)(E), 5 U.S.C. § 7131.
• Outcome: Travel and per diem proposal within the duty to bargain; agency ordered to bargain upon request.
• Key point: An agency may bargain over travel costs when it has discretion to treat union negotiation travel as official business.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v22 p1068 ]

22:1068(105)NG

The decision of the Authority follows:

22 FLRA No. 105

NATIONAL TREASURY EMPLOYEES
UNION
Union

and

DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY,
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SERVICE
Agency

Case No.0-NG-1083

DECISION AND ORDER ON NEGOTIABILITY ISSUE

I. Statement of the Case

The petition for review in this case is before the Authority because of an appeal filed under section 7105(a)(2)(E) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (the Statute). It raises issues concerning the negotiability of the following Union proposal submitted while the parties were bargaining over ground rules in preparation for contract negotiations.

Union Proposal

All employee negotiators will receive travel and per diem reimbursement for negotiations from the employer.

II. Positions of the Parties

The Agency contends that the proposal is not within the duty to bargain for the following reasons: /1/

1. It does not concern conditions of employment within the
   meaning of section 7103(a)(14) of the Statute because payment of travel expenses is specifically provided for by law;

2. it is inconsistent with Federal law or Government-wide
   regulation;

3. the demand for travel and per diem to employee/negotiators
   is not limited to those employee/negotiators who are receiving official time.

The Agency maintains that the crux of the issue is the negotiability of reimbursement for travel and per diem for employee negotiators. As explained by the Union, the proposal would only provide travel and per diem to employee negotiators on official time.

III. Analysis and Conclusion

The Authority held in National Treasury Employees Union and Department of the Treasury, U.S. Customs Service, 21 FLRA No. 2 (1986), petition for review filed sub nom. Department of the Treasury, U.S. Customs Service v. FLRA, No. 86-1198 (D.C. Cir. March 27, 1986) that payment by an agency of travel expenses and per diem allowances incurred by employees using official time in the conduct of labor-management relations concerns a condition of employment which is within the agency's administrative discretion, and is not inconsistent with law or Government-wide regulation. Furthermore, the negotiability of travel and per diem is based on consideration of whether the travel involved is in the primary interest of the Government so as to constitute official business without consideration to 7131 official time. In this regard, the Agency has not cited any legal or regulatory provision, nor is any apparent, which would absolutely prohibit it from exercising through negotiations the discretion which it possesses to determine whether, and under what circumstances, travel attendant to labor-management relations activities is sufficiently within the interest of the United States so as to constitute official business. Also, the Union acknowledges that provisions of the Travel Expense Act and the Federal Travel Regulations apply. Thus, the Authority finds the proposal is within the duty to bargain.

IV. Order

Accordingly, pursuant to section 2424.10 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations, IT IS ORDERED that the Agency shall upon request (or as otherwise agreed to by the parties) bargain concerning the Union's Proposal). /2/

Issued, Washington, D.C., July 31, 1986.

/s/ Jerry L. Calhoun, Chairman
/s/ Henry B. Frazier III, Member
FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY

--------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------

(1) The Agency incorporated in the present case its Statement of Position in National Treasury Employees Union and Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, 21 FLRA No. 19 (1986). Thus, the positions and arguments presented here are identical.

(2) In deciding that the Union's proposal is within the Agency's duty to bargain, we make no judgment as to the merits of the proposal.