Opinion ID: 580690
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Prior ULP Charge

Text: 13 With respect to the second condition, the petitioners urge that the Authority is bound by the General Counsel's erroneous determination that the ULP charge was the subject of a prior-filed grievance. Although they acknowledge that the ULP charge was in fact filed first, the petitioners argue that the General Counsel's finding to the contrary should bind the Authority. Otherwise, they claim, Owens' interest will remain totally unprotected because the ULP charge will be barred by the General Counsel's finding that Owens had previously filed a grievance, while the grievance will be barred by the Authority's finding that the Union had previously filed the ULP charge. 14 We conclude that the Authority is not bound by the General Counsel's erroneous reason for not prosecuting the ULP charge, but neither are the petitioners precluded from seeking reconsideration of the General Counsel's decision not to issue a complaint based upon that ULP charge. The statute assigns prosecutorial and adjudicative roles respectively to the General Counsel and to the Authority. The General Counsel investigates ULP charges, issues complaints where warranted, and prosecutes those complaints before the Authority. See 5 U.S.C. § 7104(f)(2). The Authority, in turn, decides ULP cases. See 5 U.S.C. § 7105(a)(2)(G). 15 Based upon this statutory division of functions, we have held that the Authority has no power to review a prosecutorial decision of the General Counsel or to order him to issue an ULP complaint. See Turgeon v. FLRA, 677 F.2d 937, 939-40 (D.C.Cir.1982). Similarly, we think that the statutory division of functions would be frustrated if a factual determination that the General Counsel makes in deciding whether to issue a complaint could bind the Authority in a subsequent proceeding upon a grievance. The factfinder designated by the Congress must be allowed to make the ultimate determination of fact. Cf. Social Security Admin., Baltimore, Maryland and Social Security Admin., Boston Region, Boston, Massachusetts and Am. Fed'n of Gov't Employees, Local 1164, 39 FLRA 650, 655 (1991) (an adjudicatory body is not bound by prosecutorial decisions made in the processing of cases not before it). Thus, we see no barrier to our agreement with the Authority's determination--which all parties know to be correct--that the Union filed its ULP charge before Owens filed her grievance and not vice versa. 16 Nonetheless, the petitioners are not entirely foreclosed by the General Counsel's error from pursuing a remedy for the ULP they charged. The Authority represents that the petitioners are not barred by time or otherwise from seeking and receiving reconsideration of the General Counsel's decision not to prosecute the ULP charge.