Opinion ID: 461570
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Availability of Arbitration

Text: 39 AFGE also challenges the Authority's holding that the head of the agency's determination of nonnegotiability is not an issue which can be arbitrated as part of the parties' negotiated grievance procedure. While it framed this argument as an alternative one in its brief, at oral argument counsel conceded that if the Authority was correct in deciding that the head of the agency has the right to invalidate the agreement within 30 days, then the negotiated grievance procedure is clearly not the proper forum for resolution. Since we hold today that the Authority was indeed correct in its determination of the first issue, the second facet of its decision is also correct. 40 In Part II.B. of this opinion, we concluded that the head of an agency has the right to invalidate an agreement containing terms not in compliance with the law--even those imposed by the Impasses Panel. Once this is recognized, it is clear that the grievance procedure is unavailable to challenge the head of the agency's invalidation of an agreement. The action is treated as an assertion of nonnegotiability and, therefore, must be addressed by the Authority itself. In Louis A. Johnson Veterans Administration Medical Center, Clarksburg, West Virginia (Louis A. Johnson), 15 F.L.R.A. 347 (1984), the FLRA explained the limits on the arbitrators' statutory authority to decide disputes that involve pure questions of negotiability: 41 Clearly, therefore, negotiability disputes which arise between an agency and an exclusive representative under section 7117(c)(1) [claims of nonnegotiability raised before contract takes effect] must be resolved by the Authority as required by section 7105(a)(2)(E). Consequently, such disputes may not be resolved by an arbitrator in the guise of a grievance under the negotiated grievance procedure contained in the collective bargaining agreement between the exclusive representative and the agency. 42 Id. at 349-50 (footnotes deleted). 43 Contrary to the Union's argument, the determination of the arbitrator's authority to decide issues of negotiability does not turn on an examination of the scope of arbitrators' competence. Rather, the decision in Louis A. Johnson was based on the statutory requirement that the Authority settle issues of negotiability itself. See 5 U.S.C. Sec. 7105(a)(2)(E) (The Authority shall ... prescribe criteria and resolve issues relating to the duty to bargain in good faith); 5 U.S.C. 7117(c) (providing for appeal to Authority); see generally Interpretation and Guidance, 11 F.L.R.A. 626 (1983) (Impasses Panel has no jurisdiction to decide issues of negotiability). Given our holding that the head of the agency's action within 30 days triggers the expedited negotiability appeal under Sec. 7117(c), we affirm the FLRA's decision that arbitration is not a proper forum for review of a head of an agency's veto 18 of a term imposed by the Impasses Panel. 19