Fire Department, U.S. Army Infantry Center, Fort Benning and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 54 (Authority decision, April 20, 1984)

Final FLRA representation decision. The Authority clarified a bargaining unit by including the employees classified as Supervisory Firefighters. This is an appropriate-unit determination under 5 U.S.C. § 7112; § 7123(a)(2) excludes it from the ordinary 60-day judicial-review provision.

Plain-English summary

The union representing nonsupervisory fire department employees at Fort Benning asked the Authority to include seven employees classified as Supervisory Firefighters. Although the title suggested supervisory work, the record showed that they followed schedules set by the Fire Chief and Assistant Fire Chief and worked alongside other firefighters. They did not exercise personnel authority, and their routine assignments did not require consistent independent judgment. They directed firefighting only rarely, until the Assistant Fire Chief arrived. The Authority found they were not supervisors under the statute and included them in the unit. This was an original unit-clarification petition, with no Regional Director decision under review; the outcome is therefore classified as other.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Supervisor definition in 5 U.S.C. § 7103(a)(10).
• Outcome: Supervisory Firefighters, GS-081-07, included in the bargaining unit.
• Key point: A supervisory job title and routine work assignments did not establish statutory supervisory authority.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v14 p263 ]

14:0263(47)CU

The decision of the Authority follows:

14 FLRA No. 47

FIRE DEPARTMENT DIRECTORATE
OF ENGINEERING AND HOUSING
U.S. ARMY INFANTRY CENTER
FORT BENNING, GEORGIA
Activity

and

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 54, AFL-CIO /1/
Petitioner

Case No. 4-CU-30005

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 American Federation of Government Employees, Local 54, AFL-CIO (AFGE) was recognized as the exclusive bargaining representative for a unit of all nonsupervisory employees of the Fire Prevention and Protection Division, Directorate of Facilities Engineering. Essentially, the petition herein seeks to clarify the bargaining unit status of seven employees in the job classification of Supervisory Firefighter, GS-081-07, who the AFGE contends are not supervisors within the meaning of section 7103(a)(10) of the Statute and therefore should be included in the bargaining unit.
/2/

In agreement with the AFGE, the Authority finds that as the above employees do not exercise any of the statutory indicia of supervisory authority, they are not supervisors within the meaning of section 7103(a)(10) of the Statute. In so finding, the Authority notes that the record fails to establish that these Supervisory Firefighters hire, promote or reward subordinates, or effectively recommend such actions; nor do they handle grievances or disciplinary actions. Rather, they are responsible for the routine operation of the fire station to which they are assigned which involves carrying out the work and training schedules established by the Fire Chief and Assistant Fire Chief. The Supervisory Firefighters, after taking roll each day, work side by side with the other firefighters in the performance of the required daily tasks. The Assistant Fire Chief is responsible for directing firefighting activities. Only on rare occasions when he does not reach the fire first will a Supervisory Firefighter direct firefighting activities, and then only until the Assistant Fire Chief arrives. As a result of the above, the Authority concludes that the authority that they exercise in the assignment of regular duties at the fire station is routine in nature and does not require the consistent exercise of independent judgment. Department of the Army, U.S. Armor Center, Fort Knox, Tennessee, 4 FLRA 116, 119-120 (1980). Accordingly, the Authority a shall order that the employees in the job classification of Supervisory Firefighter, GS-081-07 should be included in the recognized bargaining unit.

ORDER

IT IS ORDERED that the unit sought to be clarified herein be, and it hereby is, clarified by including in said unit the employees in the job classification of Supervisory Firefighter, GS-081-07. Issued, Washington, D.C., April 20, 1984. Barbara J. Mahone, Chairman Ronald W. Haughton, Member Henry B. Frazier III, Member FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY

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

/1/ The names of the parties appear as amended at the hearing.

/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, except that, with respect to any unit which includes firefighters or nurses, the term 'supervisor' includes only those individuals who devote a preponderance of their employment time to exercising such authority(.)