Veterans Administration, Winston-Salem Regional Office and AFGE Local 2880 (Authority decision, September 26, 1984)

Final FLRA decision. The Authority sets aside an arbitration award that dismissed a position description grievance. Under 5 U.S.C. § 7123(a)(1), orders involving arbitral awards are generally excluded from judicial review unless they involve an unfair labor practice under 5 U.S.C. § 7116. This decision does not resolve an unfair labor practice.

Plain-English summary

Employees at the Veterans Administration's Winston-Salem Regional Office grieved that their official position descriptions did not accurately reflect the duties they performed. The arbitrator denied the grievance as barred by the statute's exclusion for position classification disputes. The Authority held that a grievance about the accuracy of a position description is distinct from a classification challenge, even if correcting the description could later lead to reclassification. It set aside the arbitrator's award. The Authority did not decide whether the employees' descriptions were inaccurate.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Classification grievance exclusion under 5 U.S.C. § 7121(c)(5); arbitration exceptions under § 7122(a).
• Outcome: Arbitrator's dismissal set aside; merits of the description grievance not decided.
• Key point: Employees may grieve whether official descriptions reflect their assigned work without directly challenging position classification.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v16 p50 ]

16:0050(15)AR

The decision of the Authority follows:

16 FLRA No. 15

VETERANS ADMINISTRATION,
REGIONAL OFFICE,
WINSTON-SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA
Activity

and

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF
GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES,
LOCAL 2880, AFL-CIO
Union

Case No. O-AR-355

DECISION

This matter is before the Authority on an exception to the award of Arbitrator Robert G. Williams filed by the Union under section 7122(a) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute and part 2425 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations. The Agency filed an opposition. /1/

According to the Arbitrator, the grievants in this case filed a grievance contending that they were entitled to an accurate position description and seeking as a remedy to have their position descriptions revised to reflect their actual duties and work. The Arbitrator as his award denied the grievance determining that it was barred by section 7121(c)(5) of the Statute which precludes most grievances concerning the classification of any position. In the opinion of the Arbitrator, any request to revise a position description cannot be grieved because the adequacy of the position description concerns the classification of the position and because any significant change in the position description would lead to a reclassification. The Union filed an exception contending that the award is contrary to law.

In Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Transportation, Tampa, Florida and Federal Aviation Science and Technological Association, National Association of Government Employees, Tampa, Florida, 8 FLRA 532, 535 n.3 (1982) the Authority specifically held that section 7121(c)(5) of the Statute

in no manner prevents grievances concerning, and arbitral review of, the accuracy of an employee's official position description, including whether the duties regularly assigned by management and performed by the employee are accurately reflected by the position description, and it in no manner prevents an arbitrator, as appropriate, from ordering an agency to change the position description if the agency has decided to add unrelated duties to the position to be regularly performed by the employee. Because such an order does not directly concern position classification, it would be proper even if the change in the position description results in a classification appeal or a reclassification of the position.

In terms of this case, the Arbitrator's award denying the grievance as barred by section 7121(c)(5) is directly contrary to that provision as interpreted and applied by the Authority in FAA, Tampa. Accordingly, the award is set aside.

Issued, Washington, D.C., September 26, 1984

Henry B. Frazier III, Acting
Chairman
Ronald W. Haughton, Member
FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY

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

/1/ The Agency has also filed a motion to dismiss, but the Authority finds that no basis for dismissing the Union's exception is provided.