American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3631 and Environmental Protection Agency (Authority decision, March 18, 1983)

Final FLRA decision. The Authority resolved the union's negotiability petition. An aggrieved person may seek judicial review of this final order in an appropriate United States court of appeals within 60 days after issuance under 5 U.S.C. § 7123(a). A petition does not itself stay the order.

Plain-English summary

The union proposed rotating EPA WANG computer operators after three months if a health and safety committee found that longer full time work posed stress. The Authority read the proposal as an absolute bar on assigning the work to some employees once that condition was met. That conflicted with management's right to assign work. It dismissed the petition on the merits.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Management work assignment right under 5 U.S.C. § 7106(a)(2)(B).
• Outcome: Agency's nonnegotiability position sustained; petition dismissed.
• Key point: A safety condition could not operate as an absolute bar on management's work assignments.

Full text (FLRA public release)

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11:0637(110)NG

The decision of the Authority follows:

11 FLRA NO. 110

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO, LOCAL 3631

Union

and

ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION AGENCY

Agency

Case No. 0-NG-472

The petition for review in this case comes before the Federal Labor Relations Authority (the Authority) pursuant to section 7105(a)(2)(E) of the Federal Service Labor - Management Relations Statute (the Statute), and raises the question of the negotiability of the following Union proposal:

WANG operators will be chosen every three (3) months if the Health and Safety Committee of EPA Region III, after looking at collected WANG data, assess that WANG operators should not work the WANG on a full-time basis for more than one (1), three (3)-month period, nonconsecutively, because of stress factors.

Upon careful consideration of the entire record, including the parties' contentions, the Authority makes the following determination.

Contrary to the Union's assertion that the proposal is only a procedure which concerns health and safety matters, to be followed by management in assigning work, the express language of the proposal would absolutely prohibit management from assigning certain duties to employees beyond a specified period of time if the circumstances described in the proposal apply. Thus, as the agency would be completely prevented from assigning work if the condition specified in the proposal have been met, the proposal is inconsistent with management's right under section 7106(a)(2)(B) of the Statute to "assign work" and is not within the duty to bargain. See National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 1167 and Department of the Air Force, Headquarters, 31st Combat Support Group (TAC), Homestead Air Force Base, Florida, 6 FLRA No. 105 (1981) (Proposal 6). [ v11 p637 ]

Accordingly, pursuant to section 2424.10 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations, IT IS ORDERED that the Union's petition for review be, and it hereby is, dismissed.

Issued, Washington, D.C., March 18, 1983

Ronald W. Haughton, Chairman

Henry B. Frazier III, Member

Leon B. Applewhaite, Member

FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY

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