Pennsylvania Air National Guard and Pennsylvania State Council, Association of Civilian Technicians (Authority decision, December 22, 1983)

Final FLRA representation decision. The Authority kept the listed job classifications in the bargaining unit and excluded one employee doing personnel work. This appropriate-unit determination is excluded from the 60-day judicial-review provision by 5 U.S.C. § 7123(a)(2).

Plain-English summary

The Pennsylvania Air National Guard sought to remove employees in several job classifications from a bargaining unit represented by the Association of Civilian Technicians. The Authority found that the listed employees were neither supervisors nor management officials and kept them in the unit. It excluded Eleanor Shaver because her Hispanic employment program recruitment work was federal personnel work beyond a purely clerical role. The outcome is classified as other because the Authority decided the original unit petition after a hearing, without reviewing a Regional Director decision.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Supervisor and management official definitions under 5 U.S.C. § 7103; personnel-work exclusion under § 7112(b)(3).
• Outcome: Listed classifications remain in the unit; Eleanor Shaver excluded.
• Key point: Implementation of policy did not make the listed employees management officials, while active recruitment work required Shaver's exclusion.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v13 p538 ]

13:0538(90)CU

The decision of the Authority follows:

13 FLRA No. 90

PENNSYLVANIA AIR NATIONAL GUARD
Activity/Petitioner

and

PENNSYLVANIA STATE COUNCIL, ASSOCIATION
OF CIVILIAN TECHNICIANS, INC.
Labor Organization

Case No. 2-CU-20010

DECISION AND ORDER CLARIFYING UNIT

Upon a petition duly filed with the Federal Labor Relations Authority under section 7111(b)(2) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (the Statute), a hearing was held before a hearing officer of the Authority. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.

Upon careful consideration of the entire record, including the parties' contentions, the Authority finds: The Pennsylvania State Council Association of Civilian Technicians, Inc. (ACT) was certified in March 1973 as the exclusive bargaining representative for a unit of all Wage Board and General Schedule Air National Guard Technicians employed in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Essentially, the petition herein seeks to exclude numerous incumbents in 12 job classifications from the unit on the basis that they are supervisors, management officials, confidential employees or employees engaged in Federal personnel work in other than a purely clerical capacity. /1/

SUPERVISORS /2/

The Activity/Petitioner contends that the employees in the job classifications listed in the Appendix are supervisors and should be excluded from the unit. The Authority finds that the above employees are not supervisors within the meaning of section 7103(a)(10) of the Statute as the record indicates that these employees do not exercise any of the statutory indicia of supervisory authority. See Pennsylvania Army National Guard, 8 FLRA No. 119 (1982).

MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS /3/

The Activity/Petitioner contends that the employees in the Appendix are management officials and should be excluded from the unit. In the lead case of Department of the Navy, Automatic Data Processing Selection Office, 7 FLRA No. 24 (1981), the Authority interpreted the statutory definition of "management official" to include those individuals who: (1) create, establish or prescribe general principles, plans, or courses of action for an agency; (2) decide upon or settle upon general principles, plans or courses of action for an agency; or (3) bring about or obtain a result as to the adoption of general principles; plans or courses of action for an agency. Applying these criteria to the instant case, the Authority finds that the employees listed in the Appendix are not management officials and should continue to be included in the bargaining unit. The record establishes that these employees are highly trained individuals whose actions assist in implementing, as opposed to shaping, the Activity's overall policies. Thus, the record is clear that they do not exercise any duties or responsibilities which require to authorize them to formulate, determine, or influence the policies of the Activity within the meaning of section 7103(a)(11) of the Statute. Accordingly, the Authority shall order that these incumbents remain in the bargaining unit. See Pennsylvania Army National Guard, 8 FLRA No. 119 (1982).

CONFIDENTIAL EMPLOYEES/PERSONNEL WORK IN OTHER THAN A PURELY CLERICAL CAPACITY

The Activity/Petitioner contends that Eleanor Shaver, EEO Clerical Assistant (Typing), GS-303-05 is a confidential employee and/or an employee engaged in personnel work in other than a purely clerical capacity within the meaning of section 7112(b)(3) of the Statute; and that she should be excluded from the recognized unit. In addition to providing clerical support to the Equal Employment Opportunity Specialist and Equal Employment Opportunity Officer, Shaver, as the Activity's manager of the Hispanic Employment Program, among other things; assists in recruitment efforts by traveling throughout Central Pennsylvania meeting with individuals with Hispanic backgrounds in an attempt to interest them in joining the technician program. Thus, the Authority finds that Shaver is an employee engaged in personnel work in other than a purely clerical capacity and that she must be excluded from the unit. /4/

ORDER

IT IS ORDERED that the unit sought to be clarified herein be, and it hereby is, clarified by continuing to include in said unit the employees in the job classifications listed in the Appendix and by excluding from said unit Eleanor Shaver, EEO Clerical Assistant, (Typing), GS-303-05.

Issued, Washington, D.C., December 22, 1983
Barbara J. Mahone, Chairman
Ronald W. Haughton, Member
Henry B. Frazier III, Member
FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY

APPENDIX

JOB CLASSIFICATIONS OF EMPLOYEES ALLEGED TO BE SUPERVISORS AND MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS

Flight Instructor, (Fixed Wing), GM-2181-13, F1430101

Flight Instructor, (Fixed Wing), GM-2181-13, F1453000

Flight Instructor, (Fixed Wing), GM-2181-13, 1454000

Navigator (Instructor, GM-2181-13, F1451000

Flight Instructor, (Fixed Wing), GM-2181-13, F1913100

Navigator (Instructor), GM-2181-12, F1452000

Navigator (Instructor), GM-2181-12, F1455000

Flight Instructor, (Fixed Wing), GM-2181-13, 1430100

Flight Instructor, (Fixed Wing), GM-2181-13, 1442000

Flight Instructor, (Fixed Wing), GM-2181-13, 1443000

Flight Instructor, (Fixed Wing), GM-2181-13, F1442000

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

/1/ During the course of the hearing the parties stipulated that two positions included in the original CU petition were now occupied by full time military personnel and were therefore not in issue. This stipulation is deemed a motion to amend the petition and is hereby granted.

/2/ Section 7103(a)(10) of the Statute defines a "supervisor" as:

. . . an individual employed by an agency having authority in the interest of the agency to hire, direct, assign, promote, reward, transfer, furlough, layoff, recall, suspend, discipline, or remove employees, to adjust their grievances, or to effectively recommend such action, if the exercise of the authority is not merely routine or clerical in nature but requires the consistent exercise of independent judgment . . . .

/3/ Section 7103(a)(11) of the Statute defines a "management official" as:

. . . an individual employed by an agency in a position the duties and responsibilities of which require or authorize the individual to formulate, determine, or influence the policies of the agency . . . .

/4/ In view of the above determination, the Authority finds it unnecessary to rule upon whether Shaver is also a confidential employee.