The appeals court for the District of Columbia has remanded a lower court’s decision that allowed the IRS to flaunt promised time off in exchange for seasonal customer service duty.
An arbitrator decided in favor of the National Treasury Employees Union that the agency had to honor agreements between local union chapters and certain IRS regional offices that provided for time off awards in exchange for voluntary customer service duties during tax filing season, according to No. 05-1405.
It said however, the Federal Labor Relations Authority overruled that decision, saying that time off awards are only allowed for “superior accomplishment or other personal effort that contributes to the quality, efficiency, or economy of government operations” — and not merely showing up.
FLRA supposed that the agreements called for awards even to volunteers who performed customer service duties below a minimally successful level, the decision noted.
Yet, the appeals court found that the agreements are ambiguous about whether they obliged the IRS to give awards even to inadequate volunteers, and because FLRA did not address the ambiguities in the agreements, it set aside its holding and remand for further proceedings.
