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

Federal Circuit

Johanna K. Begay and National Federation of Federal Employees v. U.S. Department of the Interior (Bureau of Indian Affairs) Navajo Area Office, 145 F.3d 1313 (Fed. Cir. 1998), reviewing 53 FLRA 984 (1997).

The Federal Circuit dismissed for lack of jurisdiction an individual's petition for review of an Authority decision overturning an arbitration award. Although not the named respondent, the Authority participated in the case as an amicus curiae. The Authority had set aside an arbitration award, which sustained a grievance challenging the use of certain reduction-in-force procedures resulting in Begay's separation from service. The Court determined that it did not have jurisdiction to review the Authority's decision under 28 U.S.C. § 1296(a)(2) and 3 U.S.C. § 431. The Court also found that no other circuit court would have jurisdiction to review the Authority's decision. The Court agreed in this regard with other courts of appeals that because a unfair labor practice was not an explicit or a necessary ground for the Authority's decision, no court would have jurisdiction under section 7123(a) of the Statute.