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Decisions of the Federal Labor Relations Authority
72 FLRA No. 1
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
EMPLOYEES ORGANIZATION
(Union)
and
UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND
ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
(Agency)
0-AR-5477
DECISION
January 7, 2021
Before the Authority: Colleen Duffy Kiko, Chairman,
and Ernest DuBester and James T. Abbott, Members
(Member DuBester dissenting in part)
Decision by Member Abbott for the Authority
. Statement of the Case
In this case, we reject a remedy that would
violate management's right to determine its mission
under § 7106(a)(1) of the Federal Service
Labor-Management Relations Statute (the Statute).
Arbitrator John Paul Simpkins issued an award
finding that the Agency violated the parties' agreement
and a 2011 Memorandum of Understanding (the MOU)
by reducing the operating hours of several Weather
Station Offices (WSOs).1 As a remedy, he ordered the
Agency to restore the operating hours at the affected
WSOs to their pre-grievance status and to pay any
affected employees backpay for overtime differentials
they lost due to the Agency's actions.
The main question before us is whether the
award is contrary to management's right to determine its
mission under § 7106(a)(1) of the Statute.2 Under the
framework articulated in U.S. DOJ, Federal
i All WSOs referred to in this opinion are located in Alaska.
2 5 U.S.C. § 7106(a)(1) (Subject to subsection (b) of this
section, nothing in this chapter shall affect the authority of any
management official of any agency . . . to determine the
mission, budget, organization, number of employees, and
internal security practices of the agency).
BOP (DOJ),3 we find that the Arbitrator's remedy does
not reasonably and proportionally relate to the Agency's
violation of the parties' agreement and the MOU.
Additionally, we deny the Union's exception because the
Arbitrator did not exceed his authority by formulating the
issues absent a stipulation. Accordingly, we vacate the
award as contrary to § 7106(a)(1) of the Statute.
II. Background and Arbitrator's Award
In 2011, the parties negotiated the MOU to
mitigate the impact, and improve the implementation, of
the Agency's plan to (1) reduce its staff at five weather
stations - Cold Bay, McGrath, Yakutat, Annette and St.
Paul - and (2) to reduce the operating hours of three
weather stations - Cold Bay, McGrath, and Yakutat - to
sixteen hours per day, seven days a week. Additionally,
paragraph fifteen of the MOU established a process
whereby a local office team (LOT) would meet to discuss
coverage of leave and vacancy related absences.
Consequently, it was common for employees to use
overtime to cover absences.
By late 2017, the Agency reduced the operating
hours at eight weather stations - Cold Bay, McGrath,
Yakutat, Annette, St. Paul, Barrow, Bethel, and Kotzebue
- because it alleged that finding coverage for vacant
shifts was overly burdensome and that the reduction in
hours had a negligible effect on the Agency's forecasting
mission.4 Consequently, the Union filed grievances
alleging that the Agency did not properly bargain over its
decision to reduce the operating hours at the eight WSOs
and, therefore, violated Article 8 of the parties'
agreement, paragraph fifteen of the MOU, and
§ 7116(a)(1) and (5) of the Statute.5 The Union also
claimed that the MOU required the Agency to maintain
sixteen hours per day, seven days a week operations at
the WSOs named in the MOU. The grievances
proceeded to arbitration.
On the merits, the Arbitrator found that the
Agency violated the MOU and the parties' agreement
because it failed to engage [in] the LOT process to
achieve management's intended result of reducing the
operating hours at the eight WSOs.6 He found that the
denial of overtime pay was not a de minimis event and
that the Agency had a duty to bargain when reducing the
grievants' overtime opportunities. The Agency argued
3 70 FLRA 398, 405-06 (2018) (Member DuBester dissenting).
4 The affected WSOs are located in Cold Bay, McGrath,
Yakutat, Annette, St. Paul, Barrow, Bethel, and Kotzebue.
Award at 9.
s The two grievances were filed on September 11, 2017 and
November 25, 2017. Id. at 1-2. The parties subsequently
agreed to combine the grievances for arbitration. Union's
Opp'n Br. at 21.
6Award at 10.
72 FLRA No. 1
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