The Federal Labor Relations Authority, which administers the labor-management relations program for non-postal federal employees, has announced the permanent appointment of Sarah Whittle Spooner as executive director.
As executive director, Spooner will serve as the chief operating officer of the agency and be charged with management of agency-wide administrative offices, including budget and finance, administrative services, IT, and human capital, according to the agency.
It said these offices provide services to all FLRA components, including the Authority decisional component, the Office of the General Counsel, and the Federal Service Impasses Panel.
However, the authority currently has just one member, Ernie DuBester, who took over as chairman when Carol Walter Pope’s term ended on January 4.
The FLRA explained in a recent Q&A that without a quorum of at least two members it “cannot issue final decisions in arbitration, negotiability, representation, and unfair labor practice cases […] This affects the processing both of pending cases and of cases that will be filed during this period.”
Parties can still file cases with the FLRA and otherwise it remains “business as usual” despite the authority not being able to issue final decisions.