AFGE Local 3407 and Defense Mapping Agency (Authority decision, December 8, 1981)

Final FLRA decision. This is a final Authority order. An aggrieved person may seek judicial review by filing a petition in an appropriate United States court of appeals within 60 days after issuance under 5 U.S.C. § 7123(a). Filing a petition does not stay the Authority's order unless the court orders a stay under 5 U.S.C. § 7123(c).

Plain-English summary

AFGE Local 3407 appealed the Defense Mapping Agency's refusal to bargain over proposals concerning paid parking. While the appeal was pending, the agency discontinued the paid-parking program at the worksite. The Authority concluded that the particular proposals no longer presented a live negotiability dispute and dismissed the appeal without reaching the merits. It left other parking-related bargaining questions to the unfair labor practice process.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: 5 U.S.C. § 7117.
• Outcome: Negotiability appeal dismissed as moot.
• Key point: Ending the paid-parking program removed the dispute over its implementation proposals.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v07 p301 ]

07:0301(46)NG

The decision of the Authority follows:

7 FLRA No. 46

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF
GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES,
AFL-CIO, LOCAL 3407
Union

and

DEFENSE MAPPING AGENCY
HYDROGRAPHIC/TOPOGRAPHIC
CENTER, WASHINGTON, D.C.
Activity

Case No. O-NG-247

ORDER DISMISSING NEGOTIABILITY APPEAL

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) (5
U.S.C. 7101-7135).

PURSUANT TO OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET (OMB) CIRCULAR A-118 AND
A DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (DOD) DIRECTIVE IMPLEMENTING THE OMB CIRCULAR,
DATED OCTOBER 11, 1979, THE DEFENSE MAPPING AGENCY (DMA) ESTABLISHED A
PAID PARKING PROGRAM FOR EMPLOYEES AT THE DEFENSE MAPPING AGENCY
HYDROGRAPHIC/TOPOGRAPHIC CENTER (DMAHTC). THE UNION REQUESTED LOCAL
NEGOTIATIONS CONCERNING THE IMPACT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THAT PROGRAM
AND SUBMITTED SEVERAL PROPOSALS TO DMAHTC. IN PARTICULAR, THE UNION
SUBMITTED THREE PROPOSALS CONCERNING EXEMPTIONS FROM PARKING FEES FOR
CERTAIN TYPES OF EMPLOYEES AND VEHICLES AND ONE PROPOSAL CONCERNING
DMAHTC'S LIABILITIES IN CONNECTION WITH THE PAID PARKING PROGRAM. THE
DMAHTC RESPONDED THAT THE UNION'S PROPOSALS WERE OUTSIDE THE DUTY TO
BARGAIN. THE UNION THEN FILED THE INSTANT NEGOTIABILITY APPEAL WITH THE
AUTHORITY. SUBSEQUENTLY, DMAHTC IN ITS STATEMENT TO THE AUTHORITY
WITHDREW ITS ALLEGATION OF NONNEGOTIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO ONE OF THE
PROPOSALS BUT CONTINUED TO ALLEGE THAT THE OTHER THREE PROPOSALS
INCLUDED IN THE UNION'S APPEAL WERE OUTSIDE THE DUTY TO BARGAIN.

WHILE THIS APPEAL WAS PENDING BEFORE THE AUTHORITY, DMA INFORMED THE
AUTHORITY THAT PAID PARKING AT DMAHTC WOULD BE DISCONTINUED EFFECTIVE
AUGUST 1, 1980. FURTHER, DMA REQUESTED THAT THE AUTHORITY DISMISS THE
UNION'S NEGOTIABILITY APPEAL SINCE THE MATTERS PREVIOUSLY IN DISPUTE
RELATE TO THE DISCONTINUED PAID PARKING PROGRAM AND, THEREFORE, THE
UNION'S APPEAL HAD BECOME MOOT. THE UNION TOOK THE POSITION THAT THE
APPEAL IS NOT MOOT, CONTENDING THAT, NOTWITHSTANDING THE FACT DMA
RESCINDED THE PAID PARKING PROGRAM AT DMAHTC, THE OBLIGATION TO BARGAIN
WITH THE UNION STILL EXISTS WITH RESPECT TO THIS MATTER. THE UNION
REQUESTED PERMISSION TO FILE AN ADDITIONAL SUBMISSION TO THIS EFFECT,
WHICH WAS GRANTED BY THE AUTHORITY. HOWEVER, THE UNION DID NOT FILE
WITH THE AUTHORITY ANY RESPONSE IN SUPPORT OF ITS CONTENTION WITHIN THE
TIME LIMIT ALLOWED FOR SUCH A SUBMISSION.

BASED ON THE RECORD, THE FACTS IN THE PRESENT CASE ARE NOT MATERIALLY
DISTINGUISHABLE FROM THOSE IN AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO, LOCAL 2, AND DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, HARRY DIAMOND
LABORATORIES, ADELPHI, MARYLAND, 5 FLRA NO. 13(1981). IN THAT CASE, THE
AUTHORITY FOUND THAT THE NEGOTIABILITY ISSUES RAISED BY THE UNION'S
PROPOSALS, WHICH CONCERNED THE PAID PARKING PROGRAM, WERE RENDERED MOOT
BY THE DISCONTINUANCE OF THE PROGRAM. THEREFORE, FOR THE REASONS SET
FORTH IN HARRY DIAMOND LABORATORIES, AND APART FROM OTHER
CONSIDERATIONS, IT IS CONCLUDED THAT THE NEGOTIABILITY ISSUES RAISED
WITH RESPECT TO THE DISPUTED PROPOSALS INVOLVED IN THE INSTANT APPEAL
WERE RENDERED MOOT BY THE DISCONTINUANCE OF THE PAID PARKING PROGRAM AT
DMAHTC. /1/

FURTHERMORE, ISSUES AS TO WHETHER, IN THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THIS CASE,
THE ACTIVITY WOULD HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO BARGAIN ON OTHER MATTERS
CONCERNING THE GENERAL SUBJECT OF PARKING, APART FROM THE PARTICULAR
PAID PARKING PROGRAM WHICH IS THE SUBJECT OF THE PROPOSALS DISPUTED IN
THE INSTANT APPEAL, MAY PROPERLY BE RAISED IN THE UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICE
PROCEDURES UNDER SECTION 7118 OF THE STATUTE. SEE AMERICAN FEDERATION
OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO, LOCAL 2782 AND DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE,
BUREAU OF THE CENSUS, WASHINGTON, D.C., 4 FLRA NO. 93(1980).

ACCORDINGLY, WITHOUT PASSING ON THE MERITS OF THE DISPUTE, IT IS
ORDERED THAT THE UNION'S APPEAL BE DISMISSED.

ISSUED, WASHINGTON, D.C., DECEMBER 8, 1981

RONALD W. HAUGHTON, CHAIRMAN

HENRY B. FRAZIER III, MEMBER

LEON B. APPLEWHAITE, MEMBER

FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY

--------------- FOOTNOTES: ---------------

/1/ SEE ALSO NATIONAL FEDERATION OF FEDERAL EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 1461 AND
U.S. NAVAL OBSERVATORY, WASHINGTON, D.C., 6 FLRA NO. 119(1981) IN WHICH
THE AUTHORITY FOUND THAT, SINCE THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA DECIDED THAT PAID PARKING PROGRAMS ESTABLISHED
PURSUANT TO OMB CIRCULAR A-118 WERE INVALID AND THE COLLECTION OF
PARKING FEES PURSUANT TO THOSE PROGRAMS WAS ILLEGAL, THE NEGOTIABILITY
ISSUES RAISED BY THE PROPOSAL, WHICH CONCERNED EXEMPTIONS FROM PARKING
FEES FOR CERTAIN EMPLOYEES, WERE RENDERED MOOT AND DISMISSED THE APPEAL.