Opinion ID: 544758
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Negotiation of Sunday Premium Pay Prior to August 19, 1972

Text: 15 In the proceedings before the FLRA, Reclamation maintained that because Sunday premium pay had not been a specific subject of negotiations with the Union prior to August 19, 1972, the Civil Service Reform Act and the Prevailing Rate Systems Act did not permit it to enter into negotiations on the matter. Section 704(a) of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, set forth as a note to 5 U.S.C. Sec. 5343 provides, in pertinent part: 16 (a) Those terms and conditions of employment and other employment benefits with respect to Government prevailing rate employees to whom section 9(b) of Public Law 92-392 ... applies which were the subject of negotiations in accordance with prevailing rates and practices prior to August 19, 1972, shall be negotiated on and after the date of the enactment of this Act [October 13, 1978] in accordance with the provisions of section 9(b) of Public Law 92-392. 17 Pub.L. 95-454, Sec. 704(a) (codified at 5 U.S.C. Sec. 5343 note). Section 9(b) of Public Law 92-392 referred to in Section 704 of the Civil Service Reform Act (and also set forth as a note to 5 U.S.C. Sec. 5343), provides, in pertinent part: 18 The amendments made by this [Prevailing Rate Systems] Act ... shall not be construed to-- 19 (1) abrogate, modify, or otherwise affect in any way the provisions of any contract in effect on the date of enactment of this Act [August 19, 1972] pertaining to the wages, the terms and conditions of employment, and other employment benefits, or any of the foregoing matters, for Government prevailing rate employees; 20 (2) nullify, curtail or otherwise impair in any way the right of any party to such contract to enter into negotiations after the date of enactment of this Act [August 19, 1972] for the renewal, extension, modification or improvement of the provisions of such contract or for the replacement of such contract with a new contract; 21 (3) nullify, change, or otherwise affect in any way after such date of enactment [August 19, 1972] any agreement, arrangement, or understanding in effect on such date [August 19, 1972] with respect to the various items of subject matter of the negotiations on which any such contract in effect on such date is based or prevent the inclusion of such items of subject matter in connection with the renegotiation of any such contract, or the replacement of such contract with a new contract, after such date. 22 Pub.L. 92-392, Sec. 9(b) (codified at 5 U.S.C. Sec. 5343 note) (emphasis added). 23 Consistent with Reclamation's position, the FLRA found that Sunday premium pay had not been a specific subject of negotiations between Reclamation and the Union prior to August 19, 1972. Rio Grande Project, 26 F.L.R.A. No. 105 at 908. However, the FLRA went on to reason that negotiations between Reclamation and the IBEW Union about other types of premium pay prior to August 19, 1972, made Sunday premium pay a negotiable subject within the meaning of Section 704(a) and Section 9(b). 24 The FLRA, relying on its earlier decision in Columbia Power Trades Council and United States Department of Energy, Bonneville Power Administration, 22 F.L.R.A. No. 100 (1986), held that 25 section 704 does not limit its protections only to the particular terms of provisions which were specifically negotiated by the parties in their collective bargaining agreements prior to August 19, 1972. If a disputed proposal involves subject matters which had previously been negotiated by the parties, those subjects are within the Agency's duty to bargain under section 704. Additionally, parties are not confined merely to the continuation of terms of previously existing agreements. In a new agreement, the parties may change those terms or alter their rights concerning the matters involved. 26 Rio Grande Project, 26 F.L.R.A. No. 105 at 909. The FLRA maintains that its construction of Section 704 is supported by the language of Section 9(b) which provides: 27 The amendments made by this Act ... shall not be construed to impair in any way the right of any party ... to enter into negotiations ... for the ... modification, or improvement of the provisions of such contract. 28 Pub.L. 92-392, Sec. 9(b) (codified at 5 U.S.C. Sec. 5343 note). 29 The FLRA argues that because Section 9(b) authorizes modification of preexisting contract terms, negotiation of any type of premium pay before August 19, 1972, is sufficient to make mandatory, under Section 704, negotiation of the more specific Sunday premium pay proposal. The FLRA also argues that the legislative history of Sections 9(b) and 704 supports its position that Congress did not intend to prohibit the parties to a prevailing rate employees contract from conducting negotiations on subjects not specifically included in any agreement negotiated prior to August 19, 1972, the effective date of the Prevailing Rate Systems Act. 30 We disagree with the FLRA's reading of the legislative history. We think that the legislative history makes it clear that Section 704 was intended to grandfather collective bargaining agreements between prevailing rate employees and federal employers that were in effect at the time the Civil Service Reform Act was enacted. In other words, the section preserved for future negotiations those pay practices that had previously been the subject of negotiation, but did not create any additional obligations to negotiate. Indeed, the House Conference Report states: 31 Section of the House bill provides certain savings clauses for employees principally in agencies under the Department of the Interior and the Department of Energy who have traditionally negotiated contracts in accordance with prevailing rates in the private sector of the economy and who were subject to the savings clauses prescribed in section 9(b) of Public Law 92-392, Enacted August 19, 1972.... 32 H. Conf. Rep. No. 95-1717, 95th Cong., 2d Sess., at 159 (1978), reprinted in 1978 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News at 2723, 2893. 33 To construe Sections 704 and 9(b) in the manner advocated by the FLRA would result in an expansion of Reclamation's duty to bargain contrary to congressional intent. Adoption of the FLRA's position would mean that federal employers that had previously negotiated any one type of premium pay with prevailing rate employees would be required to negotiate all other types of premium pay. Given the conceivable variety of types of premium pay, such an interpretation would require negotiation on a range of subjects never previously contemplated by the bargaining parties. It is unclear what, if any, limitations on the expansion of bargaining obligations would exist under the construction proposed by the FLRA. If viewed broadly enough, almost any subject of negotiations could somehow be connected to one which was previously the subject of negotiations so as to qualify as a modification or an item[ ] of subject matter previously negotiated. We conclude that the legislative history demonstrates that Congress enacted Sections 9(b) and 704 in order to preserve the status quo, not to expand the scope of the bargaining obligations between federal employers and prevailing rate employees. 34 Our view is in accordance with that of the Ninth Circuit. See United States Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Yakima Agency and the Wapato Irrigation Project v. Federal Labor Relations Authority, 887 F.2d 172 (9th Cir.1989). The court in Yakima interpreted Section 704(a) of the Civil Service Reform Act and concluded that only those specific matters which were the subject of negotiations prior to August 19, 1972, remained negotiable under that section. Id. at 176. The court reversed a decision of the FLRA which held that prior negotiations between the Department of the Interior and a federal employees' union about wages was sufficient to make a save pay provision 5 negotiable under Section 704(a) even though a save pay provision had never been the specific subject of previous negotiations. Id. 35 The court in Yakima noted that Congress has not treated the wages of federal employees as a simple uniform topic. A variety of federal wages exist that are specifically treated as separate subjects by Congress, e.g., merit pay ... Sunday and holiday pay ... [and] retroactive pay. Id. The court concluded that [g]iven this way of legislating, it is a perversion of the statute to interpret it as saying that since wages were once negotiated, any and all wage increases are open to negotiation in the future. What is critical is the kind of wages that were the subject of previous bargaining. Id. Because a save pay provision was not a specific subject of negotiations prior to August 19, 1972, the Ninth Circuit held that it was not a proper subject for negotiations under Section 704. Id. 36 Like the court in Yakima, we conclude that, given the various types of premium pay Congress has defined by statute, it would be a misinterpretation of Section 704(a) to conclude that negotiation of any type of premium pay operated to preserve the negotiability of all others. What is of importance is the exact kind of premium pay that was the subject of previous bargaining. The variety of types of premium pay detailed by Congress demonstrates that Congress does not view premium pay as a generic term. Rather, premium pay encompasses several specific types of pay above the basic level. 37 The various types of premium pay are outlined in subchapter V of Chapter 55 to Title 5. Included within the subchapter entitled Premium Pay is a single section applicable to prevailing rate employees, 5 U.S.C. Sec. 5544. 6 Under Sec. 5544, there are two distinct types of premium pay available to prevailing rate employees: (1) overtime pay (for work in excess of 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week) and (2) Sunday pay (for each hour worked on a Sunday as part of an eight hour shift). In addition, although it is not included in the subchapter titled Premium Pay, the Prevailing Rate System Act itself provides for payment of a night differential and a differential for unusually severe working conditions or unusually severe hazardous duties (to be established by the Office of Management and Budget). See 5 U.S.C. Sec. 5343(c)(4), (f). 7 38 There is a further flaw in the FLRA's position because Section 704(a) requires more than just a showing that a particular subject was a matter of negotiations between the parties prior to August 19, 1972. It defines the kind of negotiations that had to have taken place. The negotiations must have been in accordance with prevailing rates and practices prior to August 19, 1972. Here, there is no such showing, and indeed the record is to the contrary. By admission of the parties, the subject of Sunday premium pay was not specifically negotiated prior to August 19, 1972, because the parties apparently felt that the employees had a statutory right to receive Sunday premium pay and thus Reclamation paid the employees Sunday premium pay without regard to whether it was a local prevailing practice. 8 See Brief of the FLRA at 11, 26; Brief of Reclamation at 10, 19-20. 39 In summary, we hold that the requirement of Section 704(a) of negotiations prior to August 19, 1972 is not satisfied by a showing of negotiations concerning other kinds of premium pay. We further hold that negotiations premised on a perceived statutory entitlement to Sunday premium pay do not constitute negotiations in accordance with prevailing practices. Therefore, we reverse the FLRA's ruling that the requirements of Section 704(a) were satisfied in this case. 40