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 sought bargaining over changes to incentive award criteria at the IRS Kansas City Service Center. It filed both a negotiability appeal and an unfair labor practice charge, then elected to proceed with the charge. A Regional Director found no duty to bargain because the union had submitted the proposal after the agency implemented the changes, and the union did not appeal that finding. With no bargaining duty left in dispute, the Authority dismissed the negotiability appeal as moot. It did not decide whether the proposal conflicted with law or regulation.

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 question for the Authority to decide.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v15 p268 ]

15:0268(57)NG

The decision of the Authority follows:

15 FLRA No. 57

NATIONAL TREASURY EMPLOYEES
UNION
Union

and

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

Case No. O-NG-884

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 the Agency's changes 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 Union did not submit the proposal which is the subject of the instant appeal until after the Agency had implemented the proposed changes. The Regional Director, therefore, concluded that the Union failed to submit the proposal within a reasonable time and, thus, the Agency did not have an obligation to bargain over the proposal. 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 had previously submitted another proposal which is the subject of a separate negotiability appeal.