This report covers selected decisions and other actions of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (Authority or FLRA) under the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (FSLMRS), the Merit Systems Protection Board (Board or MSPB), the courts, and other authorities whose actions affect Federal employee and labor-management relations. Selection is based generally on whether a case creates or modifies precedent or provides insights that are of interest to a wider spectrum of agency management than only the parties to the cases themselves.

FLEXIPLACE ... REQUIRING EMPLOYEES TO REPORT TO DUTY AT ALTERNATIVE WORK SITE (AWS) WHEN THE OFFICIAL DUTY SITE (ODS) IS CLOSED DUE TO SNOW EMERGENCY
FLRA, deferring to OPM telework guidance, turned down union exceptions to an award in which the arbitrator ruled that the agency didn't violate the agreement when the agency didn't excuse the grievant from duty on a day on which she was scheduled to work at her AWS even though it had excused employees scheduled to work at the ODS. "As OPM reasonably has found that it is lawful for an agency to require its employees to report to duty at their alternative work site on a day when the official duty site is closed due to snow emergency, we defer to the OPM guidance on this matter and find that the Union has not shown that the award is unlawful." American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3911, AFL-CIO and Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2, 0-AR-3782, July 27, 2004, 60 FLRA No. 25.

PROPERLY IMPLEMENTED FINAL OFFERS, LIKE FSIP ORDERS, ARE PART OF THE CONTRACT ... REOPENING "COVERED BY" THE MOU
A properly implemented "final offer" MOU proposal dealing with a child care subsidy program, which states the conditions under which it can be reopened, is a legally enforceable part of the agreement. The union did not have the midterm right to reopen the MOU because its request to reopen was not in accord with the MOU's reopener provision. Department of Labor, Washington, D.C. and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 12, AFL-CIO, WA-CA-0816, June 30, 2004, 60 FLRA No. 18.

RETROACTIVE NONCOMPETITIVE TEMPORARY PROMOTIONS
Relying on an OPM advisory opinion, FLRA held that "a retroactive temporary promotion for more than 120 days cannot be awarded in the absence of competitive procedures," and therefore limited an award directing a temporary promotion of more than 2 years to a temporary promotion of no more than 120 days. The Authority indicated that FLRA precedent inconsistent with 5 C.F.R. ' 335.103(c) will no longer be followed. Dept. of Veterans Affairs and NAGE Local R5-3593, 60 FLRA No. 13.

PREMIUM PAY FOR PERFORMING REPRESENTATIONAL FUNCTIONS ON SUNDAYS AND HOLIDAYS
FLRA set aside an award in which the arbitrator interpreted the agreement as requiring that the agency pay premium pay to union representatives who perform representational functions on Sundays and holidays because the award violated 5 USC 5546(b). In FLRA's view, performing representational functions does not constitute "work" within the meaning of ' 5546(b). Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Adminis-tration and National Air Traffic Controllers Association, 0-AR-3734, June 17, 2004, 60 FLRA No. 7.

PRIVACY ACT ... NO ADVERSE EFFECT
FLRA turned down the union's exceptions to an award in which the arbitrator found that the agency didn't violate the Privacy Act by attempting (unsuccessfully) to contact a social worker to discuss the flexibility of a medically proposed work schedule for the grievant's return to work. FLRA held that the union failed to demonstrate that the attempted contact had an adverse effect on the grievant. It also turned down the agency's exception to that portion of the award in which the arbitrator split the arbitration fees between the parties. National Association of Government Employees, Local R4-27 and U. S. Department of Defense, Defense Commissary Agency, Fort Lee, Virginia, 0-AR-3780, June 17, 2004, 60 FLRA No. 5.