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62 FLRA No. 31
American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1741 and United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Federal Correctional Institution, Milan, Michigan (Allen, Arbitrator), 0-AR-4117 (June 21, 2007)
This case is one in a series of disputes between various AFGE local unions and the Agency concerning overtime pay for pre-shift and post-shift activities under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. § 201 et. seq. The Arbitrator issued a preliminary award finding that any liability for back pay would begin on the date the parties requested an arbitrator. In the final award, the Arbitrator determined that the Union had not established that the Agency failed to properly compensate employees.
The Union filed exceptions to both awards. The Authority found that the preliminary award failed to apply the recovery period set out in the FLSA. With respect to the final award, the Authority denied the Union's exceptions.
Because the arbitrator improperly limited the recover period, the Authority remanded the case to the parties for resubmission to the arbitrator to allow for the presentation of evidence for the entire recovery period.