Office of the General Counsel
Date: February 23, 2000
Matter of: [xxx]
File Number: S002623
OPM Contact: Murray M. Meeker
The claimant, a former civilian employee at the [xxx], requested
that he be permitted to buy back leave which he used as a result of
a work-related injury. For the reasons expressed herein, the claim
is denied for lack of jurisdiction.
The [agency] has advised the Office of Personnel Management
(OPM) that during the period covered by the claim, the claimant was
subject to a negotiated grievance procedure under a collective
bargaining agreement, and that the claim is not excluded from the
agreement's negotiated grievance procedure. Indeed, [agency]
advised OPM that the claimant had previously filed a grievance
under the negotiated grievance procedure.
OPM cannot take jurisdiction over a claim that is or was subject
to a negotiated grievance procedure under a collective bargaining
agreement unless that matter is or was specifically excluded from
the agreement's grievance procedure. 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 1425, 1453
(Fed. Cir. 1990) (en banc) (In enacting 5 U.S.C.
' 7121(a), Congress intended that the negotiated grievance
procedure was to be the exclusive remedy for matters not excluded
from the grievance process), cert. denied, 498
U.S. 811 (1990). Accord, Harris v. United
States, 841 F.2d 1097 (Fed. Cir. 1988); Cecil E. Riggs et
al., B-222962.3, April 23, 1992.