Federal Labor 

Relations 

Authority 

Strategic Plan 

2015 - 2018 

The Authority 

Office of the 

General Counsel 

Federal Service 

Impasses Panel 

FLRA Components FLRA by the Numbers 

The Authority comprises three presidentially 

nominated and Senate-confirmed Members 

who are responsible for adjudicating unfair 

labor practice complaints, determining 

whether to grant exceptions to arbitrators’ 

awards, resolving negotiability disputes in 

collective bargaining, and reviewing 

exclusive-representation decisions. 

The Office of the General Counsel investigates alleged 

unfair labor practices, prosecutes unfair-labor-practice 

complaints, determines representation matters, and 

provides Alternative Dispute Resolution services. A 

presidentially nominated and Senate-confirmed General 

Counsel leads the Office of the General Counsel and 

manages the FLRA’s regional offices. 

The Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP) 

resolves impasses between federal agencies 

and unions arising from negotiations over 

conditions of employment under the Federal 

Service Labor-Management Relations 

Statute and the Federal Employees Flexible 

and Compressed Work Schedules Act. The 

Panel comprises seven part-time 

Presidential appointees. 

The FLRA is organized into the following three 

statutory components:

99%

of FLRA employees 

reported that they are 

willing to put in extra 

effort to get the job 

done

98%

of FLRA employees 

reported that they are 

being held 

accountable for 

achieving results

94%

of FLRA employees 

know how their work 

relates to the 

agency’s goals and 

priorities

35+

2.1m

5,540

300+ 

years of dedicated service promoting 

positive federal labor-management relations 

federal non-Postal employees covered by 

the Federal Service Labor-Management 

Relations Statute

cases resolved in 2015, involving 

federal agencies, employees, and 

unions

training or outreach sessions 

administered in 2015 to nearly 8,300 

customers

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) services are a focus of the FLRA because they 

provide a cost-effective, amicable mechanism for parties to resolve disputes.

96% 

87%

100%

Office of the General Counsel (ULP) 

Office of Administrative Law Judges (ULP) 

Collaboration and Alternative Dispute Resolution Office (NEG) 

Percentage of cases totally or partially settled through ADR (FY 2015)

0

20

40

60

80

2007 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Best Places to Work in the Federal Government score, 2007-2015

3rd

Best Small Agency 

to Work For 

in 2015

According to the 2015 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey . . . 

Data Sources: 2015 FLRA Performance Accoountability Report; 2015 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, Office of Personnel 

Management; 2007 - 2015 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government Rankings, Partnership for Public Service 

www.FLRA.gov

Using ADR to resolve all of their cases, FSIP obtained 78% voluntary settlements 
Mission: The FLRA promotes stable, constructive labor-management relations through the resolution and prevention of labor 

disputes in a manner that gives full effect to the collective-bargaining rights of employees, unions, and agencies.

Objective 3.1: Recruit, retain, and develop a highly talented, 

motivated, and diverse workforce to accomplish the FLRA’s mission

1. Establish goals for timeliness measures and discuss 

lessons learned and best practices, both within and among the 

three components, at least annually

2. Incorporate timeliness progress reviews into existing 

monthly meeting structure and/or other venues in order to 

share updates and best practices, promote accountability, and 

discuss steps for future improvement

3. Continuously develop and implement process and 

material improvements discussed during the monthly 

progress reviews or at any other appropriate time

Objective 1.2: Set a high standard of quality for the caseresolution process

1. Establish goals for quality and discuss lessons learned and 

best practices, both within and among the three components, 

at least annually

2. Incorporate discussions of quality-standard adoption, both 

in terms of successes and needs for improvement, into existing 

monthly meeting structure and other venues 

3. Continuously develop and implement process and 

material improvements discussed during monthly progress 

reviews and/or at any other appropriate time 

4. Use the FLRA’s online resources to keep parties informed of 

what they can generally expect with respect to FLRA case 

processes in terms of timing, steps, etc.

1. Employ a targeted recruitment strategy to hire a diverse, highly 

skilled workforce

2. Work across components to more effectively build capacity and 

share knowledge 

3. Cultivate a working environment that develops, empowers, and 

fairly rewards employees

4. Engage in succession planning and develop strategies to 

maximize the transfer of institutional knowledge

5. Encourage innovation

6. Promote a healthy work-life balance to retain a productive 

workforce

Objective 3.2: Improve usage of existing technology and deploy new 

IT systems to streamline and enhance organizational operations

1. Improve eFiling capability and maximize its use in receiving 

case filings

2. Enhance employee technology usage and skills at every level

3. Assess and develop in-house IT capabilities on an ongoing 

basis

4. Develop and implement data-analytics tools to improve case 

processing, outreach, and internal operations

Objective 3.3: Act as an effective steward of agency resources

1. Conduct an internal assessment of the “supply and demand” for 

ADR services

2. Develop a workforce-planning system that will allow for better 

deployment of administrative and professional staff when resource 

needs increase in specific offices or regions

3. Implement a performance-management process that 

encourages all FLRA employees to achieve objectives that lead to 

successful organizational outcomes

4. Conduct a survey for program-office staff to provide feedback 

on administrative services ,at least annually

5. Build a strategic resource-planning process to inform the 

budget-planning cycle

Objective 2.1: Offer high-quality outreach and prevention services, 

as well as reference resources, to promote more effective labormanagement relations across the federal government

1. Encourage positive, open communication between labor 

and management representatives by supporting labormanagement forums and other collaborative labormanagement relationships

2. Conduct independent, objective, and timely analyses of 

labor-management issues and trends to inform case and 

outreach activities

3. Deploy cross-component teams to deliver external trainings 

when appropriate

4. Provide tailored outreach and training, targeting audiences 

with the greatest need

5. Improve the FLRA website to make it a truly user-friendly, 

empowering resource for parties and the federal-sector labormanagement community

Objective 2.2: Maximize the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution 

practices in case resolution

1. Set standards for how and when ADR should be offered in 

each component in order to maximize parties’ access to ADR

2. Evaluate the estimated benefits achieved through 

implementation of ADR practices

FLRA Strategic Plan Components: Mission, Goals, Objectives, and Strategies 

Objective 1.1: Achieve or exceed case-resolution timeliness 

measures, as established by each component

Goal 1: We will resolve disputes under the 

Federal Service Labor-Management 

Relations Statute in a timely, high-quality, and 

impartial manner.

Goal 3: We will manage our resources 

effectively and efficiently in order to achieve 

organizational excellence.

Goal 2: We will promote stability in the 

federal labor-management community by 

providing leadership and guidance through 

Alternative Dispute Resolution and education.