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55 FLRA No. 25
U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs Wapato Irrigation Project and NFFE, Local 341, 0- AR-2945 (Decided January 28, 1999)
The Arbitrator sustained a grievance alleging that the Agency breached the parties' collective bargaining agreement in proposing that unit employees' negotiated salaries take effect on May 26, 1996, instead of the first pay period in February, 1996. He ordered back pay in accordance with the new wage scale for all hours worked since the first pay period in February, 1996. He also ordered that interest on the back pay award be paid in accordance with the current savings deposit rate for the state of Washington. The Authority concluded that the Arbitrator's award of interest was deficient under law and applicable regulation. Accordingly, the Authority modified the award to require payment of interest consistent with law and regulation. The Authority also held that the remaining Agency exceptions failed to establish that the award was deficient under section 7122(a) of the Statute, and were denied.
The Back Pay Act provides that interest shall be computed at the rate or rates in effect under section 6621(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. The Authority found nothing in the Arbitrator's award to indicate that the Arbitrator considered the rates in effect under section 6621(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code when he set the interest rate at the current savings deposit rate for the State of Washington. Thus, the Authority concluded that the Arbitrator's award of interest was deficient under applicable law and regulation.
The Union requested that the award relating to the rate of interest be adjusted to reflect the appropriate rate. The Agency argued that the Arbitrator's retention of jurisdiction to assist in determining the amount of back pay and interest due precluded the Authority from modifying the award. The Authority noted that such retention of jurisdiction did not render the exceptions in that regard interlocutory. Accordingly, the award was modified