United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service (Agency) and National Federation of Federal Employees, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO (Labor Organization/Petitioner) (Authority decision, January 28, 2015)

FLRA representation decision. The Regional Director's decision and order became the action of the Authority under 5 U.S.C. § 7105(f) after the Authority did not undertake to grant review within sixty days of regaining a quorum. This notice states that the Authority will take no further action in this case.

Plain-English summary

A request to review a Regional Director's representation decision was filed while the Authority lacked a quorum. The Authority regained a quorum on November 12, 2013, but did not undertake to grant review within the following sixty days. Under the statutory rule applied in this notice, the Regional Director's decision and order became the Authority's action after January 11, 2014. The Authority notified the Forest Service and the union that it would take no further action. The notice does not describe the underlying representation ruling.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: 5 U.S.C. § 7105(f)
• Outcome: The Regional Director's decision and order became the Authority's action; the Authority took no further action.
• Key point: When the Authority did not undertake to grant review within the sixty-day period after regaining a quorum, the regional decision became its action.

Full text (FLRA public release)

68 FLRA No. 43

UNITED STATES

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
U.S. FOREST SERVICE
(Agency)

and

NATIONAL FEDERATION

OF FEDERAL EMPLOYEES
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION

OF MACHINISTS

AND AEROSPACE WORKERS, AFL-CIO
(Labor Organization/Petitioner)

WA-RP-11-0055

_____

NOTICE

January 28, 2015

______

Before the Authority: Carol Waller Pope, Chairman, and

Ernest DuBester and Patrick Pizzella, Members

In FDIC,[1] the Authority held that, under § 7105(f) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute,[2] the Authority had sixty days from the date on which it regained its quorum – November 12, 2013 – to undertake to grant an application for review that had been filed while the Authority lacked a quorum.[3] The Authority further held that, because it had not undertaken to grant review within that sixty-day period, the regional director’s decision and order in that case became “the action of the Authority” after January 11, 2014.[4]

The application for review in this case also was filed when the Authority lacked a quorum. For the same reasons set forth in FDIC, because the Authority did not undertake to grant review of the application by January 11, 2014, the Regional Director’s decision and order in this case became the action of the Authority after that date. Accordingly, consistent with FDIC, we hereby notify the parties that the Authority is taking no further action in this case.

[1] 68 FLRA 260 (2015).

[2] 5 U.S.C. § 7105(f).

[3] FDIC, 68 FLRA at 260.

[4] Id. at 262 (internal quotation marks omitted).