An employee (Grievant) of the Federal Bureau of Prisons had a child, and pursuant to the Federal Employee Paid Leave Act, requested 12 weeks of paid parental leave. The Bureau granted his request. The Grievant submitted requests to work voluntary overtime on days he received paid parental leave. The Bureau did permit employees to work voluntary overtime on days in which they earned paid leave, but in this case, denied the request for overtime, explaining that paid parental leave is akin to unearned leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The Grievant’s union (AFGE) filed a grievance, which proceeded to arbitration.
The Arbitrator denied the grievance, reasoning that “paid parental leave is a substitute for FMLA special circumstances as described, it is not earned,” and denied back pay. AFGE filed exceptions to the arbitration award, arguing that (1) the award was contrary to government-wide regulations; and (2) the award failed to draw its essence from the CBA.
The Federal Labor Relations Authority (Authority) denied AFGE’s exceptions. It found that AFGE failed to prove that the denial of overtime under these circumstances ran afoul of government-wide regulations relating to the accrual and use of paid administrative leave: “Although AFGE makes certain claims, and cites and quotes various regulations, AFGE does not explain how its claims relate to the regulations, or how the Arbitrator’s award conflicts with the terms of any of those regulations.”
The Authority also determined that AFGE failed to prove that the arbitration award did not draw from the essence of the CBA. To prevail, AFGE had to prove “that the award (1) cannot in any rational way be derived from the agreement; (2) is so unfounded in reason and fact and so unconnected with the wording and purpose of the agreement as to manifest an infidelity to the obligation of the arbitrator; (3) does not represent a plausible interpretation of the agreement; or (4) evidences a manifest disregard of the agreement.” Instead, AFGE made arguments that the Arbitrator’s decision allowed the Bureau to skip employees for overtime on the basis of taking paid parental leave, as opposed to other forms of paid leave. As AFGE failed to specifically address the “essence test” as articulated above, the Authority was constrained to deny the exceptions.
AFGE Local 4010, O-AR-5944, 2024 WL 2745732 (Fed. Lab. Rel. Auth., 2024).