Internal Revenue Service, Wichita District and National Treasury Employees Union (Authority decision, March 23, 1984)

Final FLRA decision. The Authority dismissed the unfair-labor-practice complaint. Under 5 U.S.C. § 7123(a), a person aggrieved by a final Authority order may generally seek judicial review within 60 days of issuance. A review petition does not itself stay the order.

Plain-English summary

NTEU sought payment of a union representative's travel and per diem expenses for midterm negotiations with the IRS Wichita District. The agency refused, and the union charged that this violated the statutory official time duty. The Authority held that official time for negotiations did not require an agency to pay travel and per diem expenses. It dismissed the unfair-labor-practice complaint on the merits.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Official time under 5 U.S.C. § 7131(a) and alleged unfair labor practices under § 7116(a)(1) and (8).
• Outcome: Complaint dismissed; travel and per diem payment denied.
• Key point: The agency's official time obligation did not include reimbursement of negotiation travel costs.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v14 p105 ]

14:0105(21)CA

The decision of the Authority follows:

14 FLRA No. 21

INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE
WICHITA DISTRICT
Respondent

and

NATIONAL TREASURY EMPLOYEES UNION
Charging Party

Case No. 7-CA-20105

DECISION AND ORDER

This matter is before the Authority pursuant to the Acting Regional Director's "Order Transferring Case to the Federal Labor Relations Authority" in accordance with section 2429.1(a) of the Authority's Rules and Regulations.

Upon consideration of the entire record in this case, including the stipulation of facts and the parties' contentions, /1/ the Authority finds:

The complaint alleges that the Respondent refused to comply with section 7131(a) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (the Statute) by its conduct in failing and refusing to authorize payment of travel and per diem expenses incurred by Robert Bates, the designated employee representative of the Union in mid-term negotiations conducted on November 23 and 24, 1981, in violation of section 7116(a)(1) and (8) of the Statute.

The dispositive facts and positions of the parties are substantially identical to those involved in Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms v. FLRA, 104 S.Ct. 439(1983) wherein the United States Supreme Court concluded that the obligation of an agency under section 7131(a) of the Statute to provide official time to employees representing an exclusive representative in the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement does not encompass the payment of travel expenses and per diem allowances. Pursuant to that decision and for the reasons set forth by the Court, the Authority concludes herein that the Respondent did not fail or refuse to comply with the provisions of section 7131(a) of the Statute. Therefore, it follows that Respondent did not violate section 7116(a)(1) and (8) of the Statute.

ORDER

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the complaint in Case No. 7-CA-20105 be, and it hereby is, dismissed. /2/

Issued, Washington, D.C., March 23, 1984

Barbara J. Mahone, Chairman
Ronald W. Haughton, Member
Henry B. Frazier III, Member
FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY

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

/1/ The General Counsel's untimely brief was not considered herein.

/2/ The Authority received a request filed by the Regional Director seeking withdrawal of the transferred case from consideration by the Authority and to have the case remanded to the Regional Director for disposition consistent with the Supreme Court's decision. In view of the Authority's disposition on the merits of this case, the Regional Director's request is hereby denied.