Opinion ID: 459825
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Departure From Agency Precedent

Text: 35 The FLRA's conclusion that the Bureau's interview of Lewis was not a formal discussion is also contrary to decisions of the Assistant Secretary for Labor-Management Relations interpreting Section 10(e) of Executive Order 11491, the predecessor to Sec. 7114(a)(2)(A). Section 10(e) of Executive Order 11491 was carried over into Sec. 7114(a)(2)(A) with no significant changes. 17 In United States Air Force, McClellan Air Force Base, California, A/SLMR No. 830, 7 A/SLMR 350 (1977), and again in Internal Revenue Service, South Carolina District, A/SLMR No. 1172, 8 A/SLMR 1370 (1978), the Assistant Secretary for Labor-Management Relations concluded that an interview by the agency of bargaining unit employees expected to appear as witnesses for a grievant at an arbitration hearing constituted a formal discussion at which the union had a right to be represented under Sec. 10(e). Both decisions turned on a determination that an interview of a witness was a formal discussion. 18 The other indicia of formality in these two cases also resembled those of the present case, except that only in the present case did more than one management representative attend the interview. In McClellan, the attorney representing the agency asked the personnel office to request the employee witnesses to come to his office the next morning. The attorney interviewed the employees at 8 a.m., a few hours before the scheduled arbitration hearing. In IRS, South Carolina District, the employee witness was told by his group manager that the attorney representing the agency would like to talk with him; the interview between the employee and the attorney took place later in the month. 36 The decisions of the Assistant Secretary construing Sec. 10(e) were incorporated into the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute by the grandfather provision of Sec. 7135(b). Section 7135(b) of the FLMR provides that 37 Policies, regulations, and procedures established under and decisions issued under Executive Order[ ] 11491 ... shall remain in full force and effect until revised or revoked by the President, or unless superseded by specific provisions of this chapter or by regulations or decisions issued pursuant to this chapter. 38 While Sec. 7135(b) does not bar the FLRA from reevaluating the decisions of the Assistant Secretary, Sec. 7135(b) requires the FLRA to treat those decisions as being in full force until it undertakes such a reevaluation. Where, as here, the Congress adopted the provision in the Executive Order in virtually unchanged form and nothing in the legislative history suggests any congressional dissatisfaction with the prior application or interpretation of the provision, we would assume Sec. 7135(b) requires the FLRA to treat the administrative precedent with the same deference as it would treat its own prior FLRA decisions. At a minimum, the FLRA must acknowledge the precedent and provide a reason for departure, just as it must when it reappraises its own precedent. Cf. Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad Co. v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Commission, 642 F.2d 1365, 1370 (D.C.Cir.1980) (agency must justify a departure from its prior determinations); Greater Boston Television Corp. v. FCC, 444 F.2d 841, 852 (D.C.Cir.1970) (agency changing its course must supply a reasoned analysis indicating that prior policies and standards are being deliberately changed, not casually ignored), cert. denied, 403 U.S. 923, 91 S.Ct. 2233, 29 L.Ed.2d 701 (1971). 39 The reference in the FLRA's decision to Internal Revenue Service and Brookhaven Service Center and National Treasury Employees Union, Chapter 99 (Brookhaven), 9 F.L.R.A. 930 (1982), does not constitute the reasoned analysis which the law requires for the FLRA's departure from the policy set forth in the Assistant Secretary's decisions in McClellan Air Force Base and IRS, South Carolina District. In the first place, Brookhaven never discusses McClellan Air Force Base or IRS, South Carolina District or provides any reason for departing from them. More importantly, however, we do not find Brookhaven inconsistent with these two prior cases. In Brookhaven, the FLRA found that an agency interview of two bargaining unit employees whom the agency intended to call as its own major witnesses in an upcoming arbitration hearing was not a formal discussion. The FLRA also determined that the agency's interview of a bargaining unit employee in preparation for an upcoming unfair labor practice proceeding where that employee was not to appear as a witness did not constitute a formal discussion. Brookhaven, when read in conjunction with McClellan and IRS, South Carolina District, suggests that a formal discussion is more likely to be found where an agency interviews the witnesses of its opponent than when it interviews its own witnesses or conducts background fact gathering, even if other indicia of formality are similar. 40 When an employer interviews an adverse witness rather than his own or even a neutral witness, common sense suggests that the situation carries a greater potential for intimidation or coercion. In assessing formality under Sec. 7114(a)(2)(A), the FLRA has always considered the potential coerciveness of the encounter. Factors frequently cited by the FLRA as militating toward a finding of formality, such as mandatory attendance or the number of supervisors present, focus on the confrontational potential of the interview, or at least the perception thereof. Brookhaven, along with McClellan Air Force Base and IRS, South Carolina District, are thus relevant in assessing the coerciveness component of formality. In the present case, the FLRA disregarded its own precedent bearing on the important element of formality supplied by the fact that the Bureau interviewed an adverse witness. Such a departure from precedent, and apparent refusal to consider a relevant factor, requires some word of justification.