Washington, DC
U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Compensation Claim Decision
Under section 3702 of title 31, United States Code
U.S. Department of Transportation
Damon B. Ford
Compensation and Leave Claims
Program Manager
Agency Compliance and Evaluation
Merit System Accountability and Compliance
06/06/2019
Date
The claimant is a Federal civilian employee of the Federal Transit Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, in Washington, D.C. She disputes the agency’s calculation of her annual leave with respect to receiving credit for prior work experience. She requests U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) require the agency to use a start date of June 20, 1999, for the correction of leave categories, and require the agency to provide her a cash payment for the leave restored. We received the claim on April 25, 2019. For the reasons discussed herein, the claim is denied.
Section 7121 (a)(1) of title 5, United States Code (U.S.C.), directs that except as provided elsewhere in the statute, the grievance procedures in a negotiated collective bargaining agreement (CBA) shall be the exclusive administrative remedy for resolving matters that fall within the coverage of the CBA. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has found the plain language of 5 U.S.C. 7121 (a)(1) to be clear, and as such, limits the administrative resolution of a Federal employee’s grievance to the negotiated procedures set forth in the CBA. Mudge v. United States, 308 F.3d 1220, 1228 (Fed. Cir. 2002). Further, the Federal Circuit also found that all matters not specifically excluded from the grievance process by the CBA fall within the coverage of the CBA. Id. at 1231. As such, OPM cannot assert jurisdiction over the compensation or leave claims of Federal employees who are or were subject to a negotiated grievance procedure (NGP) under a CBA between the employee’s agency and labor union for any time during the claim period, unless the matter is or was specifically excluded from the CBA’s NGP. See 5 CFR 178.101(b).
Documentation provided by the employing agency (i.e., Standard Form 50 showing the claimant’s bargaining unit status in block 37) shows she occupied a bargaining unit position during the period covered by the claim. The Collective Bargaining Agreement between Urban Mass Transportation Administration and American Federation of Government Employees Local 3313, AFL-CIO, covering the claimant during her employment with the agency and in effect during the period of the claim, does not specifically exclude leave and pay issues from the NGP (Article 47 of the CBA in effect during the claim period). Therefore, this claim must be construed as covered by the NGP the claimant was subject to during the claim period. Accordingly, OPM has no jurisdiction to adjudicate this claim.
This settlement is final. No further administrative review is available within OPM. Nothing in this settlement limits the claimant’s right to bring an action in an appropriate United States court.