Office of Merit Systems Oversight and Effectiveness

Date: November 29, 2001
File Number: [02-0002]
Matter of: [Claimant]

OPM Contact: Deborah Y. McKissick

The claimant is an employee of the [agency]. The claimant filed claims for compensation for back pay for a temporary appointment. We acknowledged receipt of the claim on October 18, 2001. The agency provided information on October 30, 2001. For the reasons stated below, we do not have jurisdiction to consider this claim.

Based on the information provided by the agency, the claimant was a member of a collective bargaining unit represented by the American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1808, during the time of the claim. Moreover, according Article XII of the collective bargaining agreement that covers the claimant, this matter was not excluded from negotiated grievance procedures under the agency's collective bargaining agreement.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) cannot take jurisdiction over the claim of Federal employees that are or were subject to a negotiated grievance procedure under a collective bargaining agreement between the employees' agency and labor union, unless that matter is or was specifically excluded from the agreement's grievance procedure. This is because the courts have found that Congress intended that such a grievance procedure is to 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). That Act 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). According, 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.