Opinion ID: 669040
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The FLRA's Decision

Text: 23 We turn, then, to the FLRA's conclusion that this Agreement is contrary to applicable law. See FLRA op., 45 F.L.R.A. No. 43 at 14 (A. 18). The FLRA and the Agency concede that the dress code is a means and method of performing work which falls under Sec. 7106(b)(1). The FLRA further agrees that where management at the local level exercises its discretion to bargain on a section 7106(b)(1) matter and reaches an agreement, the agency head may not subsequently disapprove that provision under section 7114(c) of the [FSLMRA] simply because it relates to section 7106(b)(1) matters. Brief for the FLRA at 11 (citing National Ass'n of Gov't Employees, Local R4-75, 24 F.L.R.A. 56, 61-62 (1986)). They argue, however, that the dress code contained in the instant Agreement is nonnegotiable--and therefore subject to disapproval by the agency head--because it pertains to internal security procedures which are protected from bargaining pursuant to Sec. 7106(a). We disagree. 24 Employment matters may be classified into three groups: (i) matters that fall within the agency's duty to bargain, (ii) matters outside the agency's duty to bargain but within the permissible realm of collective bargaining, and (iii) matters beyond the lawful scope of bargaining. Numerous courts have held that the dress code for civilian technicians at national guard installations is a means for performing work within the meaning of Sec. 7106(b)(1) and therefore a permissible subject of bargaining at the election of the agency. American Fed'n of Gov't Employees v. FLRA, 762 F.2d 183 (1st Cir.1985) (per curiam); New York Council, Ass'n of Civilian Technicians v. FLRA, 757 F.2d 502 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 846, 106 S.Ct. 137, 88 L.Ed.2d 113 (1985); Ass'n of Civilian Technicians v. FLRA, 780 F.2d 12 (7th Cir.1985); American Fed'n of Gov't Employees, Local 2986 v. FLRA, 775 F.2d 1022 (9th Cir.1985); National Ass'n of Gov't Employees, Locals R5-91, R5-107 & R5-120 v. FLRA, 771 F.2d 1449 (11th Cir.1985) (per curiam); see also American Fed'n of Gov't Employees v. FLRA, 864 F.2d 178 (D.C.Cir.1988) (same for bureau of prisons). While the agency is thus under no obligation to bargain about these dress codes, the agency may elect to negotiate subsection (b)(1) matters as long as this would not violate any other applicable law or regulation. 25 The Agency and the FLRA, as noted, advance the additional argument that because the matter of civilian attire pertains not only to a subsection (b)(1) matter but also affects management's enumerated powers under subsection (a)(1), it cannot be the subject of negotiation. As illustrated by our decision in American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1923 v. FLRA, 819 F.2d 306, 308 (D.C.Cir.1987), this interpretation gets the relationship between subsections (a) and (b) backwards: 26 Taken alone, [subsection 7106(a) ] would relieve an employer from any duty to bargain over union proposals whose incorporation in a collective bargaining agreement would affect the enumerated managerial rights. Subsection 7106(b) of the Act, however, lists certain kinds of proposals that would affect these managerial rights, yet remain proper subjects of collective bargaining. 27 We held in Local 1923 that matters falling under subsection 7106(b)(2), i.e., procedures which management officials of the agency will observe, and subsection 7106(b)(3), i.e., appropriate arrangements for employees adversely affected by the exercise of any authority under this section by such management officials, invoke the agency's duty to bargain. 819 F.2d at 308 (emphasis added). Section 7106, we held, makes clear that the duty to bargain over matters falling under subsections (b)(2) and (b)(3) exists notwithstanding that implementation of the proposal would affect the enumerated managerial rights. Id. See also American Fed'n of Gov't Employees, Local 2782 v. FLRA, 702 F.2d 1183 (D.C.Cir.1983). This relationship between subsections (a) and (b) of Sec. 7106 could not have been expressed more clearly in the language of the Act. The nonnegotiability of management rights enumerated in subsection (a) is expressly [s]ubject to subsection (b), and subsection (b) concomitantly provides that [n]othing in this section shall preclude any agency and any labor organization from negotiating matters enumerated in subsection (b). 5 U.S.C. Sec. 7106(a) & (b). In that sense, we have already decided that Sec. 7106(b) is indisputably an exception to Sec. 7106(a). 28 We know of nothing supporting the conclusion that while matters negotiable under subsections (b)(2) and (b)(3) may pertain to subsection (a), subjects negotiable under subsection (b)(1) may not. Neither the FLRA nor the Agency have pointed to anything in the statute or legislative history that would legitimize so counter-intuitive a reading of the statute. In addition to ignoring Sec. 7106(a)'s self-proclaimed relationship to Sec. 7106(b), the FLRA's reading would render parts--if not all--of subsection (b)(1) nugatory. Subsection (b)(1), for example, permits bargaining about the numbers ... of employees ... assigned to any organizational subdivision, work project, or tour of duty, while subsection (a) enumerates management rights as including the right to determine the ... number of employees ... [and] to assign work. According to the FLRA's interpretation, the number of employees and their assignment would fall beyond the permissible scope of bargaining, despite the explicit authority to bargain set out in subsection (b)(1). The Agency and the FLRA have not presented any reason to accept a logic which would effectively expunge significant passages from subsection (b)(1) of the Act. See United States v. Menasche, 348 U.S. 528, 538-39, 75 S.Ct. 513, 519-20, 99 L.Ed. 615 (1955) (applying principle of statutory construction to give effect, if possible, to every clause and word of a statute (internal quotes and citation omitted)). Therefore, we must reject outright the extraordinary twist on simple words proposed by the FLRA's reading of the Act.