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28 FLRA NO. 83

WARNER ROBINS AIR LOGISTICS CENTER,
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, GEORGIA

     Activity

     and

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO, LOCAL 987

     Union

Case No. 0-AR-1290

DECISION 1

I. Statement of the Case

This matter is before the Authority on an exception to the award of Arbitrator Roger C. Williams filed by the Agency under section 7122(a) of the Federal Sector Labor - Management Relations Statute (the Statute) and part 2425 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations.

II. Background and Arbitrator's Award

The grievance in this case concerns the performance rating of the grievant for his job element 5E, pertaining to time and attendance, for the rating period ending January 31, 1985. Subelement A of element 5E establishes a standard of 3-5 instances of tardiness during the rating period. Subelement B apparently establishes a standard of sick leave usage in 1-3 day increments, excluding major illnesses, of between 3-1/2 to 4 percent of available hours. 2 The grievant's supervisor rated him as not meeting the standard for both subelements stating in the grievant's appraisal that the grievant had been tardy more than 5 times during the  rating period and that the grievant's use of sick leave of 1-3 day increments during the rating period had exceeded 4 percent of available hours. Accordingly, the grievant was rated as "did not meet" for element 5E and, because the element was noncritical, the grievant as a result received an overall performance rating of "minimally acceptable." The grievant filed a grievance that was submitted to arbitration contending that the rating of "did not meet" for both subelements was incorrect because his actual performance under both subelements met the established standard.

The Arbitrator concluded that the evidence and testimony "prove(d) that (the grievant) was not tardy more than 5 times during the appraisal period." The Arbitrator noted in particular that although the grievant's supervisor testified that the grievant was tardy "8 or 9 times," the supervisor had no records to substantiate any tardiness of the grievant. On this basis the Arbitrator determined that the established standard had been incorrectly applied to the grievant and that under the established standard, the grievant's performance met the standard. The Arbitrator also determined that the grievant's supervisor had miscalculated the percentage of available hours during the rating period the grievant's 48 hours of sick leave represented. The Arbitrator ruled that accurately calculated under the method applied by the grievant's supervisor, the grievant's sick leave was less than 4 percent of available hours. Consequently, the Arbitrator ruled that the grievant's performance met the established standard and that the grievant's supervisor would have rated the grievant as having met the standard if he had calculated the percentage correctly. Accordingly, the Arbitrator determined that the grievant had met the established standards for job element 5E and that he had been incorrectly evaluated as having not met the standards. As his award, the Arbitrator directed that the grievant's rating be changed to "met" and that because the grievant had met the standard for all his job elements, his overall performance rating be changed to "fully successful."

III. Exception

The Agency contends that the award is contrary to management rights under section 7106(a)(2)(A) and (B) of the Statute. The Agency maintains that the award is deficient because instead of directing management to reevaluate the grievant's performance under the disputed element, the Arbitrator improperly directed that the grievant's performance rating be changed from "did not meet" to "met."

IV. Analysis and Conclusions

We conclude that the Agency has failed to establish that the award is contrary to section 7106(a)(2)(A) and (B) of the Statute. In many decisions we have discussed in detail the role of an arbitrator in resolving disputes pertaining to performance appraisal matters. See, for example, General Services Administration, Region 10 and American Federation of Government Employees, Council 236, 22 FLRA No. 8 (1986). We have found that an arbitrator may resolve a grievance over whether an employee was adversely affected in his or her performance appraisal by management's application of the established performance standards. The arbitrator may sustain the grievance on finding that management had not properly applied to the grievant the standards which it has established. In sustaining the grievance, the arbitrator may direct when appropriate that the grievant's work product or performance be granted the rating to which entitled under the established elements and standards. As to when such a direction would be appropriate, we have indicated that the disputed appraisal and elements and standards should be of the type that permits the arbitrator "in an objective, nondiscretionary, and essentially mechanistic manner to determine without an independent evaluation that the aggrieved employee was entitled to a different rating under the established standards." GSA, Region 10, 22 FLRA No. 8 at 5; Social Security Administration, Office of Hearings and Appeals, Region II and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1760, 21 FLRA No. 86 (1986) at 6.

We find that the appraisal and the elements and standards in dispute in this case permitted the Arbitrator in an objective, nondiscretionary, and essentially mechanistic manner to determine without an independent evaluation that the grievant Was entitled to ratings of "met" under the established standards for both subelements of the disputed element and consequently a rating of "met" for the element, itself. Based on the evidence and testimony presented, the Arbitrator resolved the objectively verifiable dispute over whether the grievant was tardy more than 5 times during the rating period. once he found that the grievant had not been tardy more than 5 times, the Arbitrator determined without an independent evaluation that the grievant was entitled to a rating of "met" for that subelement. Similarly, he corrected the miscalculation of the grievant's supervisor on what percentage of total available hours the grievant's 48 hours of sick leave represented. Having corrected the miscalculation, the Arbitrator determined without an independent evaluation that the grievant was entitled to a rating of "met" for the subelement and would have received that rating from his supervisor but for the miscalculation.

As we found in Bureau of Prisons, Department of Justice and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 148, 21 FLRA No. 15 (1986), we similarly find in this case that consistent with section 7106(a)(2)(A) and (B) and with Authority precedent, the award has "simply and appropriately applied to the grievant the performance standards established by management." Slip op. at 6-7. In short, as in Bureau of Prisons, the grievance and the award properly relate only to the application of management's performance standards to the grievant. The award has not resulted in an independent evaluation of the grievant's performance under the elements and standards established by management and has not resulted in a substitution of judgment by the Arbitrator for that of management as to what the grievant's evaluation and rating should be. See Bureau of Prisons at 7. Accordingly, no basis is provided for finding the award deficient as alleged.

V. Decision

The Agency's exception is denied.

Issued, Washington, D.C., August 21, 1987

Jerry L. Calhoun, Chairman

Henry B. Frazier III, Member

FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY 

Member McKee, concurring in the result

I concur with the conclusion of the majority that the Agency has failed to establish that the Arbitrator's award is contrary to section 7106(a)(2)(A) and (B) of the Statute. Therefore, I also joi