Federal Labor Relations Authority
Office of the Solicitor
Closed Court Litigation
(Current As of 07/31/2008)

Eleventh Circuit

National Association of Air Traffic Specialists v. FLRA, No. 03-15467-CC (11th Cir. Dec. 14, 2004), [unpublished decision], reviewing 59 FLRA 261 (2003).

The Eleventh Circuit denied, per curiam, the union’s petition seeking review of an Authority decision adopting an ALJ determination.  The ALJ determined that the General Counsel was entitled to summary judgment when the union failed to answer a ULP complaint.  The complaint alleged that the union violated the duty of fair representation by failing to poll all bargaining unit members in determining a watch schedule.  Regarding the Authority’s refusal to consider several claims that the union had asserted for the first time in its exceptions to the ALJ’s determination, the court explored whether manifest injustice would result if it honored the invocation of this procedural bar.  Based on the exceedingly limited scope of the cease and desist order issued against the union, the court concluded there was no basis for overturning the Authority’s procedural bar ruling.

FLRA v. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, D.C. and NASA, Office of the Inspector General, 120 F.3d 1208 (11th Cir. 1997), reviewing 50 FLRA 601 (1995), aff'd, NASA v. FLRA, 119 S. Ct. 1979 (1999).

The Eleventh Circuit enforced the Authority's decision that the agency had committed a ULP by preventing the exclusive representative from actively participating in an investigatory examination of a bargaining unit employee. In so holding, the court agreed with the Third Circuit in Defense Criminal Investigative Service v. FLRA, 855 F.2d 93 (3d Cir. 1988), that an Inspector General investigator is a "representative of the agency" within the meaning of section 7114(a)(2)(B) of the Statute, and must respect Weingarten rights when conducting employee interviews.