U.S. Capitol Police v. Office of Compliance
Opinion
*751 These appeals involve a negotiability dispute between the U.S. Capitol Police ("Police") and the Fraternal Order of Police, District of Columbia Lodge No. 1 ("Union"). The dispute arose during negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement ("CBA") to replace the parties' current CBA. The Police proposed draft language that changed the existing agreement by excluding employee terminations from the scope of the CBA's grievance and arbitration procedures, and the Union proposed removing the Police's proposed language and adding language to ensure that terminations would continue to be covered by the grievance procedures. The Police refused to negotiate over the Union's proposals. The Office of Compliance Board of Directors ("Compliance Board") found the Union's proposals negotiable and ordered the Police to bargain with the Union.
The Police petitions for review of the Compliance Board's negotiability decision, and the Office of Compliance petitions for enforcement of that decision. We dismiss the Police's petition for lack of jurisdiction, but, applying the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA") standard of review,
BACKGROUND
I
The Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 ("CAA") conferred several rights and protections to employees of the legislative branch. In this respect, the CAA was modeled after and incorporated various labor and employment statutes of the executive branch, including portions of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute ("FSLMRS") of title 5, which governs labor-management relations of executive branch employees.
See
Section 1351 of the CAA gives legislative branch employees the right "to engage in collective bargaining with respect to conditions of employment through" their chosen representative and requires agencies to bargain in good faith.
The Compliance Board promulgated regulations ("Office of Compliance Regs.") under § 1351(d).
See
142 Cong. Rec. 16983-17001 (1996) (publishing the Office of Compliance Regs.); H.R. Res. 504, 104th Cong. (1996) (approving the Office of Compliance Regs.); S. Res. 304, 104th Cong. (1996) (same). The regulations tracked the FSLMRS language in
The CAA further requires agencies to bargain in good faith over CBA proposals concerning conditions of employment "to
*752
the extent not inconsistent with Federal law."
A negotiability dispute arises when a legislative branch agency alleges that it has no duty to bargain over a matter, for example, as in this case, because the proposal is inconsistent with federal law. When that happens, a union may either file a negotiability petition directly with the Compliance Board,
II
The parties' employment relationship here is governed by a CBA that was set to expire in 2013, but remains in effect until the parties negotiate a successor CBA. The current CBA provides procedures for the settlement of grievances and lists fifteen "matters [that] are excluded from coverage of this grievance procedure." J.A. 88-89. 1 Terminations of employees is not one of those matters. During negotiations for a successor CBA, the Police presented the Union with draft language that would add employee terminations to the list of matters excluded from the scope of the grievance procedures. The Police's proposed additions are underlined below.
Section 32.03:
The following matters are excluded from coverage of this grievance procedure:
***
J. Policies, decisions, or directives of Congressional authorities and entities, including approving of terminations of employees by the Capitol Police Board ; provided that the impact and implementation of those policies by the Department will be negotiable to the extent permitted by law;
***
P. Any the [sic] termination of employment of a bargaining unit employee.
J.A. 196.
The Union proposed removing those additions. The Union also proposed including language in section 32.12's arbitration procedures to "ensure that terminations of bargaining unit employees are covered by the grievance and arbitration procedure and set the timelines for grieving such removals." J.A. 14. The Union's proposed additions are underlined below.
Section 32.12:
The Union may, within thirty (30) days following receipt of the Chief's, or designee's, final decision, notify the Chief of Police by facsimile that it desires the matter to be submitted to arbitration. For the purposes of termination of employment, the date of the final decision is the date the employee is removed from [Police] payroll .... In cases where the Chief determines that removal is an appropriate penalty under the circumstances, the Chief shall notify the employee as soon as possible of this determination. However, the disciplinary removal shall not be ripe for arbitration until the day after the employee is removed from the Department's payroll.
J.A. 200 . The Police contended that the Union's proposals were nonnegotiable (i.e., that the Police need not negotiate with respect to those proposals) and refused to *753 negotiate with the Union. The Union elected to file a negotiability petition with the Compliance Board.
III
Before the Compliance Board, the Police argued that the proposals were "specifically provided for by" the U.S. Capitol Police Technical Corrections Act of 2009 ("TCA") and thus, were not "conditions of employment." This was so because the TCA amended the CAA to provide the Capitol Police Board ("Police Board") with review and approval of employee termination recommendations, and the Police Board construed those amendments as making Police Board decisions final and not reviewable. Additionally, even if the proposals were considered conditions of employment, the Police contended that the proposals would be inconsistent with federal law and therefore nonnegotiable. The Police only raises the inconsistent with federal law issue on review in this court.
The Compliance Board did not refer the petition to a hearing officer, and no party requested a hearing before a hearing officer. The Compliance Board then decided the matter in the first instance. It concluded that the Union's proposals involved negotiable conditions of employment and were not "specifically provided for" by the TCA or inconsistent with federal law. It stated that the TCA does not provide the Police Board with the sole and exclusive authority regarding terminations, and nothing in the TCA "states that termination decisions approved by the [Police Board] are not subject to arbitration." J.A. 9. Thus, the Compliance Board ordered the Police to bargain with the Union over the proposals. In No. 2017-2061, the Police petitions for review of the Compliance Board's decision.
In the meantime, the Union attempted to bargain with the Police over its proposals that the Compliance Board found negotiable. The Police refused to negotiate with the Union while its petition for review was pending. The Police does not dispute that it has not complied with the bargaining order. In No. 2018-1504, the Office of Compliance seeks an enforcement order compelling the Police to bargain.
DISCUSSION
I. Jurisdiction
The Police's petition for review is the first of its kind before this court. We first must determine whether this court has jurisdiction over the Police's petition for review of the Compliance Board's negotiability decision. Section 1410 of title 2 provides that "[e]xcept as expressly authorized by sections 1407 [and other sections not relevant to this appeal], the compliance or noncompliance with the provisions of this chapter and any action taken pursuant to this chapter shall not be subject to judicial review." However, the Police contends this court has jurisdiction under
*754
"[T]he General Counsel or the
respondent to the complaint
, if aggrieved by a final decision of the [Compliance] Board under paragraph (1) or (2) of this subsection, may file a petition for judicial review ...."
The Police essentially contends that it is a respondent before the Compliance Board (under § 1407(a)(1)(D) ), and that it is also a respondent to a "complaint" (under § 1351(c)(3) ) because a respondent to a negotiability "petition" is a respondent to a "complaint." The Office of Compliance argues, on the other hand, that this court does not have jurisdiction because the "complaint" in § 1351(c)(3) refers only to an unfair labor practice complaint filed by the Compliance Board's General Counsel under paragraph (2). Because the Police was a respondent to a negotiability "petition" filed by the Union and not a respondent to an unfair labor practice "complaint" filed by the Compliance Board's General Counsel, the Office of Compliance contends that this court lacks jurisdiction.
For several reasons, we think the Police's argument is not correct. Our decision in
Morris v. Office of Compliance
,
The CAA, which incorporated provisions of the FSLMRS, carefully distinguishes between a "complaint" and a negotiability "petition."
See
So too, while the CAA incorporated many of the provisions of the FSLMRS, Congress did not incorporate the FSLMRS's judicial review provision and enacted a significantly different judicial review provision for legislative employees. For executive branch employees, Congress provided that "[a]ny person aggrieved by any final order of the [FLRA]" may obtain judicial review except those orders involving an appropriate unit determination or arbitration awards not involving unfair labor practices.
Significantly too, the effect of our decision is not to deny judicial review of the Compliance Board's decision because the *755 Police will be able to trigger judicial review by failing to comply with the decision, as it has done here, and forcing the Office of Compliance to bring an enforcement action. And as discussed below, that judicial review is full judicial review under the APA.
The Police has no good answers as to why these considerations do not confirm the correctness of
Morris'
s construction. Its principal argument is that § 1351(c)(3) 's reference to "a final decision of the [Compliance] Board under paragraph (1)
or
(2) of this subsection" supports judicial review. We do not agree. Paragraph (2) sheds no light on whether the reference to a "complaint" includes a negotiability "petition." It simply provides that "the [Board's] General Counsel shall exercise the authorities of the General Counsel of the [FLRA] under section[ ] ... 7118 of title 5" with respect to unfair labor practice complaints.
We thus conclude that § 1351(c)(3), defining the right to judicial review under the CAA, makes clear that only the Compliance Board's General Counsel and the respondent to an unfair labor practice complaint are authorized to petition this court for judicial review, and therefore we only have jurisdiction over those petitions under § 1407(a)(1)(D). Because the Police is neither the General Counsel nor a respondent to an unfair labor practice complaint, there is no jurisdiction over the Police's petition for review. We therefore dismiss the Police's petition for lack of jurisdiction.
II. Standard of Review
Unlike the Police's petition for review, the CAA explicitly provides this court with jurisdiction over the Office of Compliance's enforcement action. Section § 1407(a)(2) of title 2 provides:
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit shall have jurisdiction over any petition of the General Counsel, filed in the name of the Office and at the direction of the [Compliance] Board, to enforce a final decision under section 1405(g) or 1406(e) of this title with respect to a violation of part A, B, C, or D of subchapter II.
Both parties agree this is "a final decision under section 1405(g) or 1406(e)." But the CAA is silent on the scope or standard for our review of enforcement actions.
See
*756
With respect to agencies subject to the APA, the APA standard generally governs. "[A] reviewing court must apply the APA's court/agency review standards in the absence of an exception."
Dickinson v. Zurko
,
As the legislative history of the APA discloses, the APA essentially adopted the common law standard for review of agency action.
6
"[W]here a common-law principle is well established ... courts may take it as given that Congress has legislated with an expectation that the principle will apply except when a statutory purpose to the contrary is evident."
Astoria Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n v. Solimino
,
*757 standard, absent evidence of contrary intent. The legislation here-the CAA-was enacted in 1995, and we read the statute in light of this background principle to adopt the APA standard of review.
The Compliance Office argues that the standard in
Leedom v. Kyne
,
Nor is this a situation in which either of the APA exceptions applies. The APA judicial review provisions apply to agency actions "except to the extent that-(1) statutes preclude judicial review; or (2) agency action is committed to agency discretion by law."
The Office of Compliance argues there is a negative inference from the language of
Section 407-Judicial Review of Board Decisions and Enforcement
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any proceeding commenced by a petition of ... the general counsel or a respondent who files a petition under section 220(c)(3) [ (i.e.,2 U.S.C. § 1351 (c)(3) ) ]. The same court shall also have exclusive jurisdiction over any petition of the general counsel filed in the name of the Office and at the direction of the Board, to enforce a final *758 decision under section 405(g) or 406(e) .... The Standard of review in proceedings under this section is the standard that applies under the administrative procedures [sic] act , namely, that the court shall set aside a final decision of the [Compliance] Board only if it determines that the decision was arbitrary, capricious, and [sic] abuse of direction, or otherwise not consistent with law; not made consistent with required procedures; or unsupported by substantial evidence.
As the Supreme Court has explained:
The force of any negative implication ... depends on context. We have long held that the expressio unius canon does not apply unless it is fair to suppose that Congress considered the unnamed possibility and meant to say no to it, ... and that the canon can be overcome by contrary indications that adopting a particular rule or statute was probably not meant to signal any exclusion.
Marx v. Gen. Revenue Corp.
,
We thus hold that the APA standard of review governs enforcement actions brought under § 1407(a)(2). We will grant the Office of Compliance's enforcement action unless the Compliance Board's decision is "arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law," "without observance of procedure required by law," or "unsupported by substantial evidence."
III. Hearings
Turning to the merits of the enforcement action, the Police first argues that the Compliance Board failed to observe the procedures required by the CAA when it did not refer the negotiability petition to a hearing officer, and instead, decided the negotiability petition in the first instance. The Police contends this was error.
The statute provides:
For purposes of this section and except as otherwise provided in this section, the [Compliance] Board shall exercise the authorities of the Federal Labor Relations Authority under sections 7105, 7111, 7112, 7113, 7115, 7117, 7118, and 7122 of title 5.... For purposes of this section, any petition or other submission that, under chapter 71 of title 5, would be submitted to the Federal Labor Relations Authority shall, if brought under this section, be submitted to the [Compliance] Board. The [Compliance] Board shall refer any matter under this paragraph to a hearing officer for decision pursuant to subsections (b) through (h) of section 1405 of this title , subject to review by the [Compliance] Board pursuant to section 1406 of this title.
*759
To be sure, "[u]se of the word 'shall' in a statute can indicate a mandatory compulsion which, if not followed, negates action otherwise authorized by the statute."
Hitachi Home Elecs. (Am.), Inc. v. United States
,
In interpreting this provision of the CAA, we have to take account of the overall structure of the statute.
FDA v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp.
,
Here, Congress incorporated two different provisions of the FSLMRS into § 1351(c)(1) by authorizing the Compliance Board "to exercise the authorities of the [FLRA] under sections ... 7117 [and] 7118." Section 7117 provides that, after a union "fil[es] a petition with the [FLRA]" raising a negotiability dispute, "[a] hearing
may
be held, in the discretion of the [FLRA], before a determination is made under this subsection."
We think that, having incorporated these provisions into the CAA, Congress intended to give the Compliance Board the same authority as the FLRA. For negotiability petitions, that means the Compliance Board has discretion whether to hold a hearing before rendering a decision and a hearing is not required, just as the FLRA has discretion under § 7117 of title 5. In light of that, § 1351(c)(1) is best read as meaning that: "[If a hearing is required pursuant to the above sections of title 5,] [t]he [Compliance] Board shall refer any matter under this paragraph to a hearing
*760
officer for decision pursuant to subsections (b) through (h) of section 1405 of this title, subject to review by the [Compliance] Board pursuant to section 1406 of this title."
We conclude that the Compliance Board was not required to refer the matter to a hearing officer, and it was not error for the Compliance Board to decide the Union's negotiability petition in the first instance.
IV. Negotiability
Finally, the Police argues that this court should deny the enforcement action because the Compliance Board erred in finding the Union's proposals were "not inconsistent with Federal law."
10
As explained above, the Compliance Board adopted the FSLMRS's broad definition of "conditions of employment." Office of Compliance Regs. § 2421.3(m). In general, the comprehensive nature of "conditions of employment" would include employee terminations. However, the CAA incorporated
We disagree with the Police's construction of the TCA. The purpose of the TCA was "[t]o make technical corrections to the laws affecting certain administrative authorities of the [Police], and for other purposes." Pub. L. No. 111-145,
The Chief [of the Police] may terminate an officer, member, or employee only after the Chief has provided notice of the termination to the Capitol Police Board (in such manner as the [Police] Board may from time to time require) and the [Police] Board has approved the termination ....
[U]nder2 U.S.C. § 1907 (e) authorizing the Capitol Police Board to approve termination actions forwarded by the Chief of Police, the Capitol Police Board hereby orders that any termination approved by the Capitol Police Board is a final decision of the Capitol Police Board and Capitol Police Board approval decision [sic] are not reviewable or appealable in any manner. Notwithstanding any Office of Compliance Board of Directors decision, which has no applicability to Capitol Police Board's approval of termination determinations, the United States Capitol Police is directed to comply with the Capitol Police Board's approval of all termination decision [sic] by the Capitol Police Board.
J.A. 236.
The Police argues that statute as interpreted by the "order" bars review by an arbitrator of a termination decision by the Police Board, and that we are required to follow the Police Board's interpretation of the statute as precluding review of Police Board decisions. It urges that the
Chevron
framework applies, that the statute is ambiguous, and thus deference is owed to the Police Board's "order" interpreting the statute (i.e., Special Rule).
See
Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc.
,
The rest of the CAA underscores that Congress did not intend to preclude review of termination decisions made by the Chief of the Police. Other sections of the CAA show that Congress knew how to give the Chief unreviewable authority over a matter when it intended, and termination decisions was not one of them. For example,
*763
Apart from the TCA, the Police argues that the proposals were "inconsistent with Federal law" because legislative employees lack rights, under title 5, to appeal adverse personnel actions to the Merit Systems Protection Board ("MSPB"), which implies that review through a grievance procedure is also precluded. "Because Congress did not afford [Police] employees the statutory right to appeal terminations, they cannot obtain those rights through the negotiated grievance procedure." Petitioner's Br. at 3.
15
The Police relies on the Supreme Court's decision in
United States v. Fausto
,
Fausto
presented the question of whether the Civil Service Reform Act ("CSRA") precluded a nonpreference eligible employee in the excepted service from seeking judicial review for an allegedly improper job suspension. Such review was admittedly not available before the MSPB under the CSRA. But the employee asserted that review was available in the Court of Claims under the Back Pay Act.
This was so because Congress intended the CSRA to provide "an integrated scheme of administrative and judicial review" of personnel action taken against executive branch employees.
Id. at 445. The Court found that "the comprehensive nature of the CSRA [and the failure to provide review to nonpreference eligible employees as part of the comprehensive scheme for review], combine to establish a congressional judgment that those employees should not be able to demand judicial review."
Id. at 448,
Other circuits have read
Fausto
to preclude executive branch employees (when not entitled to MSPB review as to adverse personnel actions) from resort to review through CBA grievance procedures.
See, e.g.
,
*764
Dep't of the Treasury, Office of Chief Counsel v. Fed. Labor Relations Auth.
,
The Police points out that Congress chose not to give legislative employees MSPB rights, and argues that this should preclude resort to grievance procedures as well. The Police argues that the Union's proposals were thus inconsistent with law and therefore nonnegotiable.
Unlike the CSRA at issue in Fausto , the CAA did not create a comprehensive statutory scheme giving MSPB review to all but a few legislative branch employees. Nor does the election of remedies provision of § 7121(e)(1) apply to legislative employees. To be sure, § 7121 was incorporated into the legislative branch scheme by the CAA because that provision created the right to negotiated grievance procedures. But § 7121(e)(1) has no application to the legislative branch. The provision states:
Matters covered under sections 4303 and 7512 of [the CSRA] which also fall within the coverage of the negotiated grievance procedure may, in the discretion of the aggrieved employee, be raised either under the appellate procedures of section 7701 of this title [before the MSPB] or under the negotiated grievance procedure, but not both.
Notably, there is another election of remedies provision in § 7121(e)(1) -not relied on in the Fausto line of cases. That provision states:
Similar matters which arise under other personnel systems applicable to employees covered by this chapter may, in the discretion of the aggrieved employee, be raised either under the appellate procedures, if any , applicable to those matters, or under the negotiated grievance procedure, but not both.
*765 In short, arbitrator review of termination decisions is not precluded by a comprehensive scheme as in Fausto , and the incorporation of § 7121 into the CAA confirms that arbitrator review of termination decisions is not contrary to law. Thus, unlike executive branch employees who are subject to the CSRA but do not have MSPB appeal rights, we see no reason why termination decisions cannot be part of a negotiated grievance procedure for Police employees, regardless of whether or not the Chief's decisions are themselves judicially reviewable.
In other words, there is no inconsistency between the Union's proposals, which would allow Police employees to grieve termination decisions through arbitration, and the fact that those employees lack MSPB appeal rights under title 5.
CONCLUSION
Because this court does not have jurisdiction over the Police's petition for review, we dismiss the Police's petition for lack of jurisdiction. We grant the Office of Compliance's petition to enforce the Compliance Board's decision because the Compliance Board was not required to refer the matter to a hearing officer, and the Compliance Board correctly concluded that the proposals were not inconsistent with law.
DISMISSED AS TO 2017-2061 AND GRANTED AS TO 2018-1504
COSTS
No costs.
Citations to the record are to the joint appendix ("J.A.") in No. 2017-2061.
The Police originally contended that this court also has jurisdiction under
The Police also contends that had the Compliance Board referred the matter to a hearing officer, as Police argues is required by the statute, it would have been a respondent to the "complaint" because "[h]earing officers can only adjudicate complaints." Petitioner's Reply Br. at 3-4. We do not see how referring a negotiability petition to a hearing officer would transform a petition into a complaint. In any event, as we discuss below, the Compliance Board was not required to refer a negotiability petition to a hearing officer.
Congress did provide a standard of review for proceedings under § 1407(a)(1) dealing with petitions for judicial review of certain final decisions of the Compliance Board:
To the extent necessary for decision in a proceeding commenced under subsection (a)(1) of this section and when presented, the court shall decide all relevant questions of law and interpret constitutional and statutory provisions. The court shall set aside a final decision of the [Compliance] Board if it is determined that the decision was-
(1) arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not consistent with law;
(2) not made consistent with required procedures; or
(3) unsupported by substantial evidence.
Other circuits have recognized that the APA's standard of review is the default standard.
See, e.g.
,
Chu v. U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Comm'n
,
See
S. Rep. No. 79-752, at 44-45 (1945) ("Section 10(e) [of the APA (i.e.,
The FSLMRS provides for judicial review of FLRA final decisions "other than an order ... involving an award by an arbitrator, unless the order involves an unfair labor practice."
See, e.g.
,
Chu
,
Given that we find the statute unambiguous, we do not reach the question of whether
Chevron
deference is due to the Compliance Board's interpretation of the statute. In any event, the Compliance Board's interpretation is consistent with our construction.
See
Office of Compliance Regs. § 2424.9 ("A hearing may be held, in the discretion of the [Compliance] Board, before a determination is made under
As noted above, the Police originally contended that the proposals were also "specifically provided for by Federal statute," and thus not "conditions of employment" under
See
U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec. v. Fed. Labor Relations Auth.
,
The Police also argues that the requirement for grievance and arbitration procedures in the statute is only applicable to employing offices, and the Police Board is not an employing office. But as discussed, it is not the decision of the Police Board that would be reviewed, but the decision of the Chief.
The Police cites cases in which proposals that would have provided for arbitrator review of dismissal and disciplinary decisions of the state adjutant general were found inconsistent with the Natural Guard Technician Act ("Technician Act") and nonnegotiable.
See, e.g.
,
Cal. Nat'l Guard v. Fed. Labor Relations Auth.
,
The Police relies on
Department of the Air Force, Luke Air Force Base v. Federal Labor Relations Authority
,
Citations are to the parties' briefs in No. 2017-2061.
This is not to suggest that an arbitrator's decision, made pursuant to a negotiated grievance procedure of the CBA, would be judicially reviewable.
See
Nieuwdorp v. Library of Cong.
,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- UNITED STATES CAPITOL POLICE, Petitioner v. OFFICE OF COMPLIANCE, Respondent United States Capitol Police Labor Committee, Intervenor United States Capitol Police, Respondent v. Office of Compliance, Applicant Fraternal Order of Police, District of Columbia Lodge No. 1, U.S. Capitol Police Labor Committee, Intervenor
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published