FLRA UPHOLDS RETROACTIVE TRANSIT SUBSIDY AWARDS
Arbitrator Suzanne R. Butler found that the Agency violated the parties’ collective-bargaining agreement by not retroactively paying qualified bargaining-unit employees’ mass-transit subsidies of up to $240 per month for the period from January 2012 through December 2012, and up to $245 for the month of January 2013. As a remedy, she directed the Agency to reimburse affected employees for the amounts that they would have received absent the contractual violation. The Agency tried to convince FLRA to overturn the award and save it a few million. However, the Authority held that the Federal Employees Clean Air Incentives Act (the Incentives Act) and the Back Pay Act (the BPA) support the award. Consequently, it is time for HHS to pull out the check book. This NTEU case is only the tip of the back pay iceberg for NTEU whose contracts often contained clauses requiring agencies to pay the maximum subsidy. Check out NTEU, 68 FLRA 239 (2015)