16:0273(39)CU - EPA, Region IX, San Francisco, CA and NFFE Local 1 -- 1984 FLRAdec RP

 16 FLRA No. 39
 
 UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL
 PROTECTION AGENCY, REGION IX
 SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
 Activity
 
 and
 
 NATIONAL FEDERATION OF FEDERAL
 EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 1, INDEPENDENT
 Petitioner
 
                                            Case No. 9-CU-30012
 
                    DECISION AND ORDER CLARIFYING UNIT
 
    Upon a petition duly filed with the Authority under section
 7111(b)(2) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute
 (the Statute), a hearing was held before a hearing officer of the
 Authority.  The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free
 from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed.
 
    Upon careful consideration of the entire record, including the
 parties' contentions, the Authority finds:  The National Federation of
 Federal Employees, Local 1, Independent (NFFE) was certified as the
 exclusive representative for a unit of all nonprofessional employees of
 Region IX, United States Environmental Protection Agency.  Essentially,
 the petition seeks to clarify the bargaining unit status of Ladora
 Duncan, Secretary, GS-318-06;  John Noah, Clerk-Typist, GS-322-04;
 Lourdes Paredes, Secretary, GS-318-06;  Valarie Williams, Personnel
 Clerk, GS-203-05;  and Roberta Romine, Management Assistant, GS-344-05,
 whom the Activity contends should be excluded from the unit on the
 grounds that they fall within one or more of the following categories:
 confidential employees, supervisors, management officials or employees
 engaged in personnel work in other than a purely clerical capacity.
 Noah and Williams are alleged to be only confidential employees.
 
    The Activity contends that all five of the employees involved are,
 among other things, confidential employees within the meaning of
 7103(a)(13) of the Statute and should be excluded from the unit.  /1/
 
    Lourdes Paredes is secretary to Frank Covington, Director of the
 Water Management Division.  Covington approves all personnel actions in
 the division, deals with the union on day-to-day problems and is a
 member of several management committees which in the context of contract
 negotiations discuss union proposals, strategy and management
 counterproposals.  Paredes, in the course of her duties, types personnel
 actions such as adverse actions, promotions, memoranda and notes related
 to personnel actions;  maintains a file concerning personnel actions and
 attends division staff meetings where personnel actions, grievances,
 reorganizations and labor-relations matters are discussed.
 
    Ladora Duncan is a secretary to Jim Thompson, Director of the
 Administrative Services Division.  Thompson is a member of several
 management committees which in the context of contract negotiations
 discuss union proposals, strategy and management counterproposals and he
 assumed the duties of the Labor Relations Officer when the position was
 vacant.  Duncan, in the course of her duties, types personnel actions,
 adverse actions, grievances and performance appraisals and attends
 branch meetings where she takes notes of the proceedings which deal
 with, among other things, labor relations problems.
 
    Roberta Romine works for Dick Coddington, the Deputy Director of the
 Water Management Division.  Coddington assists Covington in making
 personnel and other decisions affecting the division, drafts adverse
 actions and other personnel documents and deals on a daily basis with
 the Union concerning labor relations problems in the division.  Romine,
 in the course of her duties, maintains all personnel files and files
 containing adverse actions, grievances and unsatisfactory or minimally
 satisfactory performance appraisals;  prepares documents for the above
 files;  is involved with dealing with the Union on day-to-day problems
 such as space management and attends and participates in branch meetings
 involving grievances and labor relations problems.
 
    Based on the record testimony discussed above, the Authority finds
 that the employees described above are confidential employees within the
 meaning of section 7103(a)(13) of the Statute.  In so finding the
 Authority concludes that each of the individuals works in a confidential
 capacity to an individual who formulates or effectuates management
 policies in the field of labor-management relations.  /2/ Accordingly,
 the Authority shall exclude Paredes, Duncan, and Romine from the
 bargaining unit.  /3/
 
    The record further indicates that John Noah, who works for Mark
 Hemry, Personnel Management Specialist and Valarie Williams, who works
 for Terry Simmons, Personnel Assistant are not confidential employees
 within the meaning of section 7103(a)(13) and must remain in the
 bargaining unit.  The record indicates that the individuals for whom
 Noah and Williams work the majority of the time do not formulate or
 effectuate management policies in the field of labor-management
 relations.  /4/ While it is true that from time to time the employees in
 question type documents pertaining to grievances and labor relations
 matters, it is well settled that neither typing nor mere access to labor
 relations materials is sufficient to establish confidential status.  /5/
 
                                   ORDER
 
    IT IS ORDERED that the unit sought to be clarified be, and it hereby
 is, clarified by excluding from said unit Lourdes Paredes, Secretary,
 GS-318-06;  Ladora Duncan, Secretary, GS-318-06;  and Roberta Romine,
 Management Assistant, GS-344-05 and by including in said unit John Noah,
 Clerk-Typist, GS-322-04;  and Valarie Williams, Personnel Clerk,
 GS-203-05.  Issued, Washington, D.C., October 26, 1984
                                       Henry B. Frazier III, Acting
                                       Chairman
                                       Ronald W. Haughton, Member
                                       FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY
 
 
 
 
 
 
 --------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------
 
 
    /1/ Section 7103(a)(13) defines "confidential employee" as:
 
       an employee who acts in a confidential capacity with respect to an
       individual who formulates or effectuates management policies in
       the field of labor-management relations(.)
 
 
    /2/ See Food and Drug Administration, Region I, 6 FLRA 229 (1981).
 
 
    /3/ It is therefore unnecessary to pass upon the Activity's
 contentions that these employees should be excluded from the unit on the
 basis that they are either supervisors, management officials, or engaged
 in personnel work in other than a purely clerical capacity.
 
 
    /4/ Headquarters, 1947 Administrative Support Group, U.S. Air Force,
 Washington, D.C., 14 FLRA No. 43 at 6 (1984).
 
 
    /5/ Id.