National Treasury Employees Union and Internal Revenue Service, Kansas City Service Center (Authority decision, July 16, 1984)

Final FLRA decision. The Authority dismissed the negotiability appeal after a Regional Director found no duty to bargain over the proposal. An aggrieved person may seek judicial review of a final Authority order in an appropriate United States court of appeals within 60 days after issuance under 5 U.S.C. § 7123(a).

Plain-English summary

NTEU proposed terms about an incentive award program at the IRS Kansas City Service Center. The union filed a negotiability appeal and an unfair labor practice charge after the agency declined to bargain, then elected to proceed with the charge. A Regional Director found that this proposal addressed parts of the program the agency had not proposed to change, so the agency had no duty to bargain over it. The union did not appeal that finding. The Authority dismissed the negotiability appeal as moot without deciding the proposal's substance.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Negotiability review under 5 U.S.C. § 7105(a)(2)(E).
• Outcome: Petition dismissed as moot; no negotiability ruling.
• Key point: The unappealed finding of no duty to bargain left no negotiability issue for the Authority.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v15 p266 ]

15:0266(56)NG

The decision of the Authority follows:

15 FLRA No. 56

NATIONAL TREASURY EMPLOYEES
UNION
Union

and

INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE,
KANSAS CITY SERVICE CENTER,
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI
Agency

Case No. O-NG-861

ORDER DISMISSING NEGOTIABILITY APPEAL

The petition for review in this case comes before the Authority pursuant to section 7105(a)(2)(E) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (the Statute).

The record indicates that the union sought to negotiate over an Agency change in certain incentive award criteria. The Agency refused to bargain with the Union over the proposal which is the subject of the instant appeal alleging, among other things, that under the circumstances it had fulfilled its obligation to bargain. /1/ In response to the Agency's refusal to bargain over the proposal, the Union filed the instant appeal and an unfair labor practice charge alleging that the Agency committed an unfair labor practice by implementing an incentive award program without first bargaining over the Union's proposals. Pursuant to section 2424.5 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations, the Union elected to proceed with the unfair labor practice charge and to suspend further action on the negotiability appeal.

Upon investigation, the Regional Director concluded that further proceedings on the Union's charge were not warranted. Specifically, the Regional Director determined that the Agency did not have an obligation to bargain over the Union's proposal which is the subject of the instant appeal since the Union's proposal did not concern matters the Agency had proposed to change. That is, while the Agency did propose to revise its incentive award criteria, it did not propose to revise those aspects of the incentive award program which the Union's proposal concerned. Since the Agency had not proposed to revise those aspects of the incentive award program which the Union's proposal addressed, the Regional Director concluded that the Agency did not have an obligation to bargain. No appeal of the Regional Director's determination was taken to the General Counsel.

In the absence of a duty to bargain between the parties, issues as to whether a particular proposal is inconsistent with applicable law, rule or regulation are not appropriate for resolution by the Authority. National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 1363 and Headquarters, U.S. Army Garrison, Yongsan, Korea, 8 FLRA 200 (1982), and National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 1363 and Headquarters, U.S. Army Garrison, Yongsan, Korea, 8 FLRA 134 (1982). Thus, based upon the Regional Director's determination of no obligation on the part of the Agency to bargain, which was not appealed by the Union, it is concluded that any negotiability issue which might have been raised in the instant appeal is now moot.

Accordingly, pursuant to section 2424.10 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations, IT IS ORDERED that the Union's petition for review be, and it hereby is, dismissed.

Issued, Washington, D.C., July 16, 1984
Barbara J. Mahone, Chairman
Ronald W. Haughton, Member
Henry B. Frazier III, Member
FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY

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

/1/ It is noted that the Union submitted a second proposal which is the subject of a separate negotiability appeal.