Federal Manager's Daily Report

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A union has said that federal agencies have a notably high winning percentage at the FLRA under the three-member governing board as it has been filled by the Trump administration, saying that the agency has prevailed in 83 of the board’s first 94 decisions.

The National Education Association included that data in appealing an FLRA decision involving alleged violations of Debt Collection Act procedures in garnishments against more than 100 teachers working for federal agencies, mostly the Defense Department.

In most of those cases, the decision-maker—usually an arbitrator—was overruled even though the board must give deference to the findings of the initial hearing officer, it said, and none of those cases involved an arbitrator who had ruled in favor of the agency. In the five cases involving the scope of bargaining, the agency prevailed each time, it said.

In contrast, it said, the rulings in favor of unions mostly involved technical matters such as agencies missing filing deadlines, not the merits of the case.