Court Opinion

ID: 9469455
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:41:02.509849+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:41:23.888766
License: Public Domain

OAKES, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I dissent.
The FLRA found that employees on official time under 5 U.S.C. § 7131(a) while representing their union in negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with their employing agency are entitled under 5 U.S.C. § 5702(a) to payments from that agency for their travel and per diem expenses. This construction is entitled to considerable deference. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms v. FLRA, 672 F.2d 732, 735 (9th Cir. 1982) (upholding the FLRA’s interpretation of section 7131(a) on the same issue as in this case). As the District of Columbia Circuit recently stated,
although we do not regard the agency argument to be without force, we have no doubt that the ruling of the FLRA should be upheld against it. It is the FLRA, not this court, that has been entrusted by Congress with broad powers to administer Title VII and to establish policies and provide guidance thereunder .... If the FLRA’s construction of the statute is reasonably defensible, we are not free to reject it merely because we might decide differently if confronted with the question in the first instance. See Ford Motor Co. v. NLRB, 441 U.S. 488, 99 S.Ct. 1842, 60 L.Ed.2d 420 ... (1979).
Department of Defense v. FLRA, 659 F.2d 1140, 1162 n.121 (D.C.Cir.1981) (discussing the negotiability of certain union proposals).
Judge Lumbard’s opinion does not defer to the FLRA because, it says, the FLRA’s decision “rests on an interpretation of ‘official business’ in 5 U.S.C. § 5702(a),” which is administered by the General Services Administration, not the FLRA. This is simply not so. “Interpretation” of “official business” in section 5702(a) is at most secondarily involved. An employee travelling on official business is entitled under that statute to a per diem allowance. The FLRA simply made one brief reference to that statute in interpreting a provision of Title VII, 5 U.S.C. § 7131(a), authorizing “official time” for employees “representing an exclusive representative in the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement.”1 The FLRA’s *50Interpretation and Guidance, 2 F.L.R.A. 265 (1979), was issued pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 7105(a)(1), requiring the FLRA to “provide leadership in establishing policies and guidance” so as to carry out the purpose of Title VII. It was issued after due notice, 44 Fed.Reg. 42778 (July 20, 1979), and hearing, id. at 76581 (Dec. 27, 1979). The FLRA addressed two questions in the Interpretation and Guidance:
1) Whether employees who are on official time under section 7131 of the Statute while representing an exclusive representative in the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement are entitled to payments from agencies for their travel and per diem expenses.
2) Whether the official time provisions of section 7131(a) of the Statute encompass all negotiations between an exclusive representative and an agency, regardless of whether such negotiations pertain to the negotiation or renegotiation of a basic collective bargaining agreement.
Virtually the entire Interpretation is devoted to the legislative history of Title VII and section 7131. Only a single paragraph in the eight page Interpretation refers to 5 U.S.C. § 5701 et seq.2
On the merits, while the position of the majority here has some strength, the FLRA’s decision is “reasonably defensible” .and should be upheld. In enacting section 7131(a) Congress rejected the limitations on official time contained in Exec. Order No. 11491, as amended, § 20 (“Employees who represent a recognized labor organization shall not be on official time when negotiating an agreement with agency management, except to the extent that the negotiating parties agree to other arrangements ... ”). Congress thus determined that federal employees, like management representatives, should receive their usual compensation while negotiating collective bargaining agreements — certainly not an unreasonable position once Congress decided that collective bargaining in respect to government employees is desirable and in the public interest. In light of this complete reversal of past practice regarding official time, the past practice of not paying employees for travel and per diem expenses incurred in collective bargaining is at best a frail basis for challenging the FLRA’s interpretation.
I think the FLRA could reasonably conclude that Congress intended to change the past practice. Unlike the executive order, 5 U.S.C. § 7101 explicitly states that collective bargaining “contributes to the effective conduct of public business,” and that “labor organizations and collective bargaining in the civil service are in the public interest.” Since this language indicates that employees on “official time” within the meaning of section 7131(a) are conducting “public business” which is in the “public interest,” it seems to follow that they are on “official business” when they are negotiating. In that event, 5 U.S.C. § 5702 authorizes payment of travel and per diem expenses.
*51Further support for the Authority’s interpretation is found in the intent of Congress to reduce the unequal status of union and management, and in section 7131(a)’s provision that the number of union representatives entitled to official time “shall not exceed the number of individuals designated as representing the agency for such purposes.” This last provision enables the agencies to limit their expenditure of funds on behalf of union representatives simply by reducing the number of management representatives. The National Labor Relations Act policy in respect to private employees is irrelevant. In short, like the Ninth Circuit in Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, supra, I do not find the FLRA’s interpretation either arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law. 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A). I would grant enforcement.

. 5 U.S.C. § 7131 reads as follows:
Official time
(a) Any employee representing an exclusive representative in the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement under this chapter shall be authorized official time for such purposes, including attendance at impasse proceeding, during the time the employee otherwise would be in duty status. The number of employees for whom official time is authorized under this subsection shall not exceed the number of individuals designated as representing the agency for such purposes.
(b) Any activities performed by any employee relating to the internal business of a labor organization (including the solicitation of membership, elections of labor organization officials, and collection of dues) shall be performed during the time the employee is in a nonduty status.
(c) Except as provided in subsection (a) of this section, the Authority shall determine whether any employee participating for, or on behalf of, a labor organization in any phase of proceedings before the Authority shall be authorized official time for such purpose during the time the employee otherwise would be in a duty status.
(d) Except as provided in the preceding subsections of this section—
(1) any employee representing an exclusive representative, or
(2) in connection with any other matter covered by this chapter, any employee in an appropriate unit represented by an exclusive representative,
shall be granted official time in any amount the agency and the exclusive representative involved agree to be reasonable, necessary, and in the public interest.

. The full paragraph on the fifth page of the Interpretation, 2 F.L.R.A. at 269, reads:
Neither the Statute, nor it legislative history, expressly adverts to the payment of travel expenses or per diem during participation in these negotiation activities. However, it is well established that such expenses are authorized when an employee “is engaged on official business for the Government” (Chapter 57, Subchapter I — Travel and Subsistence Expenses; Mileage Allowances, 5 U.S.C. § 5701, et seq.). As already mentioned, Congress, in adopting the Statute, specifically found in section 7101(a) that collective bargaining “contributes to the effective conduct of public business,” and that “collective bargaining in the civil service [is] in the public interest.” Further, Congress expressly mandated in sections 7114 and 7116(a)(5) and (b)(5) that such negotiations be conducted in good faith by the parties involved (92 Stat. 1202, 1204). Thus, an employee, while negotiating a collective bargaining agreement as a union representative and while on paid time entitled to his or her usual compensation and not in a leave status, is clearly engaged on “official business for the Government.”
A fair reading of the Interpretation and Guidance is that the FLRA made the determination whether employees on official time are entitled to payments for travel and per diem on the basis of section 7131(a) and Title VII, and then concluded that employees participating in negotiation activities under that section are on “official business” and entitled to the payment of travel and per diem under 5 U.S.C. § 5701 et seq., which simply operates to provide the authorization to expend funds.