Click here to view the decision.
60 FLRA No. 63
Defense Security Assistance Development Center and AFGE, Local 2004 (Loewenberg, Arbitrator) 0-AR-3609 (Decided September 29, 2004)
On remand from the Authority, the Arbitrator awarded the grievants priority consideration for future promotion vacancies. The Authority denied the Union's exceptions. The Authority concluded that the award on remand was not deficient as contrary to public policy.
For an award to be found deficient, the public policy must be explicit, well-defined, and dominant. The appealing party must identify the policy by reference to the laws and legal precedents and not from general considerations of supposed public interests. To prevail, the appealing party must clearly show that the award violates the asserted public policy.
The Authority found that the Union failed to establish that the Arbitrator's award of priority consideration for promotion violated public policy. The Authority concluded that the Arbitrator did not err in finding that the remedy of a prospective promotion was precluded by law. Prospective promotions are permissible under § 7106(a)(2)C) when there is no established connection between the Agency's violation of the collective bargaining agreement and the grievants' failure to be promoted. The Authority found that the Union provided no basis for finding deficient the Arbitrator's determination that a remedy of prospective promotions was precluded by law.