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55 FLRA No. 23
U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs Medical Center Coatsville, Pennsylvania and NAGE, Local R3-35 0-AR- 2830 (Decided January 25, 1999) (Kyler, Arbitrator)
The Arbitrator sustained a grievance over the Agency's failure to observe the overtime callback roster procedure in the parties' collective bargaining agreement. The Arbitrator found that the Agency's failure denied the grievant the opportunity to work overtime, and ordered the Agency to pay the grievant for the lost overtime opportunities. The Authority concluded that the Agency did not establish that the award was deficient under section 7122(a) of the Statute insofar as it pertained to the assignment of overtime to bargaining unit employees. However, the Authority found that the award, as it pertained to the assignment of work to supervisors, was contrary to law because it violated management's rights to assign work and employees under section 7106(a) of the Statute. The award was set aside to the extent it limited the assignment of work to supervisors and provided the grievant backpay for work performed by supervisors.
With regards to the Back Pay Act, the Authority concluded that the award of backpay to the grievant for lost overtime for the occasions when the MAA work was assigned to supervisors was not authorized under the Back Pay Act. The Authority noted that the Agency had the right to assign work to supervisors, and it committed no unjustified or unwarranted personnel action when it assigned work to supervisors. Accordingly, the award was set aside to the extent it provides the grievant backpay for occasions when supervisors performed the MAA work.
The Authority also concluded that the award was consistent with 5 C.F.R. § 610.121(a) on scheduling work to avoid payment of overtime. The Authority noted that the Agency's reliance on 5 C.F.R. § 610.121(a) was misplaced. This case involved the assignment of overtime, not the scheduling of tours of duty. The Authority concluded that the Agency did not demonstrate that the Arbitrator's award enforcing the negotiated overtime assignment provision conflicted with section 610.121(a) and provided no basis for finding the award deficient under section 7122(a) of the Statute.