Office of the General Counsel

Matter of: [xxx]
Date: March 17, 2000
File Number: S002862A

OPM Contact: Jo-Ann Chabot

This is a claim for home leave and post differential benefits from employees of the [xxx] stationed in [xxx] and [xxx]. For the reasons stated below, we do not have jurisdiction to consider this claim.

The claimants are members of a collective bargaining unit, and this matter is not excluded from negotiated grievance procedures under the collective bargaining agreement. See Article 5 (Grievance Procedure); Article 23 (Return Rights from Overseas Locations and Home Leave); Article 35 (Compensation); and Article 76 (Effect of Agreement).

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) does not have jurisdiction to consider a matter that is or was subject to a negotiated grievance procedure under a collective bargaining agreement between the employee's agency and labor union, unless that matter is or was specifically excluded from the agreement's grievance procedure. Congress intended that such a grievance procedure would be the exclusive remedy for matters not excluded from the grievance process. Carter v. Gibbs, 909 F.2d 1452, 1454-55 (Fed. Cir. 1990) (en banc), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 811 (1990) (Construing therein the provision in the Civil Service Reform Act codified at 5 U.S.C.  7121(a) which mandates that the grievance procedures in negotiated collective bargaining agreements be the exclusive remedy for matters covered by the agreements). Accord, Paul D. Bills, et al., B260475 (June 13, 1995); Cecil E. Riggs, et al., 71 Comp. Gen. 374 (1992). Accordingly, OPM cannot assert jurisdiction over, or issue a decision concerning, this matter.

This settlement is final. No further administrative review is available within the Office of Personnel Management. Nothing in this settlement limits the claimant's right to bring an action in an appropriate United States Court.