Court Opinion

ID: 9475781
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:38:03.772151+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:55.856628
License: Public Domain

WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge,
concurring and dissenting:
Sections 2(d) and 2(e) of the union’s proposal, ante at 236 n. 1, are, as the majority states, procedural; under the law of the circuit they are subject to bargaining unless the Federal Labor Relations Authority (“FLRA” or the “Authority”) has a reasonable basis for concluding that they would prevent the Defense Logistics Agency from “acting at all” with regard to the management right in question. Because it is uncertain whether the Authority made such a finding with respect to each subpart of section 2, I would remand to the Authority to resolve whether, under the standard set out in National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 615 v. FLRA, 801 F.2d 477 (D.C.Cir.1986) (Scalia, Justice, then Judge) (hereinafter “Local 615 ”), either of the two procedural subparts, viewed independently, prevents the Defense Logistics Agency from acting at all.
*242The acting-at-all test, Justice Scalia noted (in a portion of the opinion not joined by Judge Starr), “conceals rather than explains the FLRA’s policy judgments which ultimately determine whether substantive management rights have realistically been impaired.” Local 615, 801 F.2d at 483. In a series of examples, Justice Scalia considered several dispositions by the FLRA that demonstrated that the definition of the management right tends to control the determination of whether the procedure prevents the agency from exercising its authority “at all.” Thus, whether a proposal barring dismissal of an employee who is in a drug or alcohol program and “making progress” toward acceptable performance prevents management from acting at all depends upon whether the management right is defined as “ ‘dismissal of an employee who has failed to bring his performance up to standards’ or rather simply ‘dismissal of an employee’.” Id. at 482.
In Local 615, the disputed proposal was that any investigation “will normally be initiated within sixty (60) days after the incident in question, or within sixty (60) days after the Employer became aware of the incident.” Id. at 478. Thq court noted that circuit precedent required it to affirm “if there is a reasonable basis for the FLRA’s conclusion that the proposal ... would in certain circumstances establish an absolute bar to the exercise of the protected management right____” Id. at 479 (emphasis added). The court concluded that while the proposal would not prevent the agency from acting at all where it investigated within 60 days, or even in instances where it investigated after 60 days and there was a reason for the delay, it would have such an effect where 60 days elapsed and the agency had “no particular reason” for waiting that long. Id. at 480. Accordingly, the court affirmed the Authority’s determination that the proposal was not negotiable. Local 615 clearly leaves the Authority very considerable leeway in applying the acting-at-all standard.
Here the Authority found that section 2 “establishes various standards, which in certain circumstances would prevent the Agency from expeditiously suspending driving privileges pursuant to its practices.” Defense Logistics Council of AFGE Locals and Defense Logistics Agency, 20 FLRA 166, 168 (1985) (emphasis added). The statement may be a reasonable finding that sections 2(d) and 2(e) of the union’s proposal would completely prevent the agency from “expeditiously suspending” driving privileges, and, as such, may represent a reasonable judgment that the agency’s “management rights have realistically been impaired.” On the other hand, if the Authority was treating all portions of the union’s proposal as a package, then it likely made no finding on the effect of sections 2(d) and 2(e) taken separately. Accordingly, I join the court in remanding to the Authority, but believe that Local 615 requires that we leave open the possibility of its reasonably concluding that each of sections 2(d) and 2(e) is nonnegotiable.
I agree with the majority that the Authority’s rules on severability have not been clearly articulated or applied, but note that such rules must have considerable flexibility. They are always applied to language selected by those who frame the proposals, persons who are obviously not under the Authority’s control. To some extent, then, the Authority should be able to allow (and require) a proposer, if it fails to meet whatever objective criteria the Authority might establish for treating proposals separately, to specify precisely in what units it wishes the proposals to be analyzed.1 The Authority’s adoption of clear rules on the subject could save the Authority and the courts considerable aggravation.

. Of course, where proposals designated as sev-erable will in the aggregate prevent management from acting at all on a reserved subject even though each alone would not, the Authority must be entitled to consider the aggregate effect.