18:0344(45)NG - NAGE Local R14-9 and Army Dugway Proving Ground, Dugway, UT -- 1985 FLRAdec NG
[ v18 p344 ]
18:0344(45)NG
The decision of the Authority follows:
18 FLRA No. 45
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES,
LOCAL R14-9
Union
and
U.S. ARMY DUGWAY PROVING
GROUND, DUGWAY, UTAH
Agency
Case No. 0-NG-733
DECISION AND ORDER ON NEGOTIABILITY ISSUE
The petition for review in this case comes before the Authority
pursuant to section 7105(a)(2)(D) and (E) of the Federal Service
Labor-Management Relations Statute (the Statute), and raises an issue
regarding the negotiability of the following Union proposal:
Affected employees (shall) be placed on administrative leave
without charge to annual leave for the period of partial closure.
Upon careful consideration of the entire record, including the
parties' contentions, the Authority makes the following determination.
The Agency refused to bargain over the Union's proposal which would
require the granting of administrative leave to employees compelled to
take leave during the partial closure, contending that the proposal is
inconsistent with Agency regulations /1/ for which there is a compelling
need and, therefore, barred from negotiations under section 7117(a)(2)
of the Statute. /2/ The Agency contends that the regulations are
essential, as provided under section 2424.11(a) of the Authority's Rules
and Regulations, /3/ to insure the Agency's objective of curtailing
operations in order to reduce expenditures during unproductive periods
of operation is not negated by the expense incurred by granting
administrative leave to employees during this period. The Union, in
essence, argues that the Agency has not demonstrated the essentiality of
its regulations to eliminate unproductive work time since the Agency has
failed to provide evidence that the cited regulations represent the only
way to eliminate unproductive work time. Thus, the proposal and
arguments raised by the Agency and Union in the instant appeal are
identical to those at issue in National Association of Government
Employees, Local R14-62 and U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground, Dugway,
Utah, 18 FLRA 38 (1985), wherein the Authority found that the agency had
established that its regulations were "essential as distinguished from
helpful or desirable" for the policies reflected in its regulations such
that the necessity it claimed raised to the level of a compelling need.
In that case, the Authority ruled that the agency had demonstrated that
prohibiting administrative leave during partial closing of its
facilities was a critical component of the agency achieving its
objective of saving money by curtailing operations so as to insure the
agency's performance of its mission in an effective and efficient
manner. Accordingly, the Authority found it to be consistent with an
effective and efficient Government for the agency's regulations to bar
negotiation of the union's proposal. Hence, for the reasons stated and
the case cited in U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground, the Authority
concludes that the Agency has established that its regulations are
"essential as distinguished from helpful or desirable" and, thus, has
established that a compelling need exists for the regulations under the
requirements set forth in section 2424.11(a) of the Authority's Rules
and Regulations so as to bar negotiation of the Union's proposal.
Accordingly, pursuant to section 2424.10 of the Authority's Rules and
Regulations, IT IS ORDERED that the petition for review be, and hereby
is, dismissed. Issued, Washington, D.C., June 6, 1985
Henry B. Frazier III, Acting
Chairman
William J. McGinnis, Jr., Member
FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY
--------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------
/1/ The regulations upon which the Agency relies include:
Section 990-2, subchapter 610.S3, paragraph 3c, of the Army
Civilian Personnel Regulation, which provides in pertinent part as
follows:
S3-3. EFFECT OF DISMISSAL
* * * *
c. Where advance notice can be given.
The authority to excuse employees administratively is not to be
used in instances where the period of interrupted or suspended
operations can be anticipated sufficiently in advance to permit
arranging for assignment to other work or the scheduling of annual
leave . . . .
and
Section 990-2, Book 610, subchapter S3-1(a), of the Department
of Defense Civilian Personnel Manual Supplement, which provides as
follows:
S3-1. General Authority
a. Closing an Activity. Commanders are authorized to close
all or part of an activity consistent with the policy outlined in
this subchapter and to excuse employees administratively. Such
instances will be made a matter of record at the activity. This
authority does not extend to periods of interrupted or suspended
operations that can be anticipated sufficiently in advance to
permit arranging for assignment to other work or the scheduling of
annual leave.
/2/ Section 7117(a)(2) provides:
Sec. 7117. Duty to bargain in good faith; compelling need;
duty to consult
* * * *
(a)(2) The duty to bargain in good faith shall, to the extent
not inconsistent with Federal law or any Government-wide rule or
regulation, extend to matters which are the subject of any agency
rule or regulation referred to in paragraph (3) of this subsection
only if the Authority has determined under subsection (b) of this
section that no compelling need (as determined under regulations
prescribed by the Authority) exists for the rule or regulation.
/3/ Section 2424.11(a) of the Authority's Rules and Regulations
provides as follows:
Sec. 2424.11 Illustrative criteria.
A compelling need exists for an agency rule or regulation
concerning any condition of employment when the agency
demonstrates that the rule or regulation meets one or more of the
following illustrative criteria:
(a) The rule or regulation is essential, as distinguished from
helpful or desirable, to the accomplishment of the mission or the
execution of functions of the agency or primary national
subdivision in a manner which is consistent with the requirements
of an effective and efficient government.