The board's lone Democrat said the changes are worth considering but that using an interim final rule could spur skepticism and invite challenges. Image: Sergii Gnatiuk/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe FLRA governing board, with a 2-1 appointed Republican majority, has moved to take direct control of disputes over union representation in the federal workplace, saying that will eliminate the “need for burdensome appeals” from its regional offices.
A pair of interim rules in the March 24 Federal Register bypasses what has historically been primary oversight by the regional offices—consisting of career employees—of issues such as conducting and certifying union representation elections and determining which employees are within a union’s bargaining unit.
“Under the current process for representation matters, Regional Directors issue an initial decision, and parties may appeal that decision to the Authority. The Authority then issues a potentially duplicative decision resolving the representation appeal. The new process eliminates this two-layered structure for most cases because the Authority will exercise its statutory responsibility to make representation determinations,” the agency said in announcing the change.
“Parties will not need to do anything differently when filing cases under the new process. Representation cases will continue to be filed with FLRA’s regional offices,” it said, and the regional offices will work directly with the governing board.
One of the notices adds that the FLRA “is also currently reexamining the manner in which it adjudicates unfair labor practices, including who will hold hearings and draft recommended decisions in ULP cases” which “could be the subject of separate rulemaking.”
The changes become final April 23, although they are open for comment.
In a dissent, Democratic member Anne Wagner said that while changes to agency’s rules regarding representation are worth considering, “I do not agree that we should make revisions using interim final rulemaking. Today’s revisions reflect the biggest changes to the FLRA’s representation case processing in nearly 43 years.”
“Using interim final rulemaking effectively tells our stakeholders that, although we welcome their comments, we will not necessarily consider them. In my view, this risks generating potentially undue skepticism among our stakeholders, and raising the likelihood of challenges,” she added.
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