American Federation of Gov. Employees v. Principi
| Decision Date | 31 July 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. Civ.A. 02-0613 CKK.,Civ.A. 02-0613 CKK. |
| Citation | 404 F.Supp.2d 14 |
| Parties | AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, AFLCIO, LOCAL 446 Plaintiff, v. Anthony J. PRINCIPI, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Columbia |
Kevin Michael Grile, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff.
Peter Blumberg, United States Attorney's Office, Washington, DC, for Defendants.
Plaintiff, American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 446 ("AFGE") brought suit against Defendants Anthony J. Principi, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and Frances M. Murphy, Acting Under Secretary for Health for the Department of Veterans Affairs,1 alleging violations of the Department of Veterans Affairs Labor Relations Improvement Act, 38 U.S.C. §§ 7422(b) and (d), as well as denial of substantive due process of law guaranteed under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Contending that there are no genuine issues of material fact, Plaintiff moves for summary judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56. Defendants make a cross motion to dismiss the complaint under Rule 12(b)(1) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. In the alternative, Defendants move for summary judgment on the merits of the complaint. Plaintiff opposes Defendants' motions. After a careful review of the parties' briefs, the relevant statutes, and case law, the Court shall grant Defendants' cross Motion to Dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction over this suit. Lacking jurisdiction over the subject matter of this suit, the Court shall only briefly address the parties' cross Motions for Summary Judgment.2
Plaintiff AFGE is a labor organization representing registered nurses employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs ("VA") at the VA's Medical Center in Asheville, NC ("VAMC"). Compl. ¶¶ 3-5. The underlying substantive dispute in this case concerns Plaintiffs grievance that beginning February 1, 1999, operating room ("OR") nurses at the VAMC were not receiving premium pay for night and week-end work allegedly owed to them under 38 U.S.C. §§ 7453(b) and (c), as incorporated into the terms of the collective bargaining agreement ("CBA") between AFGE and the VA. Id. ¶¶ 8, 12-15.3 To pursue this grievance challenging the VAMC's failure to pay nurses at a premium rate for night and weekend work, Plaintiff used a negotiated procedure under the CBA. Id. ¶ 16.4
This dispute over night and weekend premium pay was not resolved through the negotiated grievance procedure and was subsequently referred to an arbitrator under the terms of the CBA. Id. ¶¶ 11, 19. On December 29, 1999, the arbitrator issued an award sustaining Plaintiff's grievance, finding the VAMC in violation of the CBA, and ordering the VAMC to compensate the OR nurses consistent with her findings. Id. ¶¶ 23-24; see Pl.'s Ex. 3B. Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 7122(b), the VAMC had 30 days, or until February 1, 2000, to file exceptions to the arbitrator's award with the Federal Labor Relations Authority ("FLRA"), after which time the award became final and binding. Id. ¶ 25; see 5 U.S.C. § 7122(b) (2005) ().5 The VAMC filed exceptions one day late on February 2, 2000. See Defs.' Ex. 2 at 5.
Prior to and during the course of the arbitration proceedings, the VAMC never indicated that Plaintiffs grievance was subject to exclusion from the terms of the CBA and its negotiated grievance procedure pursuant to 38 U.S.C. §§ 7422(b) and (d). See Pl.'s Ex. 3D at 3. Those subsections provide:
(b) Such collective bargaining (and any grievance procedures provided under a collective bargaining agreement) in the case of employees described in section 7421(b) of this title may not cover, or have any applicability to, any matter or question concerning or arising out of ... (3) the establishment, determination, or adjustment of employee compensation under this title.
(d) An issue of whether a matter or question concerns or arises out of ... (3) the establishment, determination, or adjustment of employee compensation under this title shall be decided by the Secretary and is not itself subject to collective bargaining and may not be reviewed by any other agency.
38 U.S.C. § 7422(b) and (d) (2005). The VAMC raised this issue for the first time on February 2, 2000, with its untimely exceptions to the arbitrator's award. See Defs.' Ex. 2 at 5-6. In a motion to dismiss the arbitrator's award accompanying the untimely exceptions, the VAMC objected to the award based on the belief that "[t]he arbitrator's decision establishes a new compensation structure for dayshift nurses, and as such, the award encompasses a matter outside the scope of collective bargaining." Id. at 5. According to the VAMC, "the arbitrator [] overstepped the scope of jurisdiction in [the] matter." Id. at 6. However, and importantly, the VA Under Secretary had not yet issued an official section 7422(b) determination regarding Plaintiff's grievance. Compl. ¶¶ 40-41. On April 20, 2000, the FLRA issued an order dismissing the VAMC's exceptions as untimely filed as well as denying the Motion to Dismiss the Arbitrator's Award. See Pl.'s Ex. 3D at 4.6
Following the April 20, 2000 order from the FLRA, the VAMC failed to comply with the arbitrator's award sustaining Plaintiff's grievance. Compl. ¶ 30. In response to this failure, on June 9, 2000, Plaintiff filed an unfair labor practice ("ULP") charge against the VAMC with the FLRA in Washington, D.C. Id. ¶ 32. On September 28, 2000, the FLRA General Counsel issued a ULP complaint against the VAMC pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 7116(a)(1) and (8).7 Id. ¶¶ 33-34. During the course of the ULP proceeding, on March 5, 2001, the VA Under Secretary issued an official determination pursuant to 38 U.S.C. § 7422(b) that Plaintiff's grievance "concerns ... the establishment, determination, or adjustment of employee compensation...." 38 U.S.C. § 7422(b); id. ¶ 43; see also Pl.'s Exs. 3G and 3H. Under section 7422(d), such a decision "shall be decided by the Secretary ... and may not be reviewed by any other agency." 38 U.S.C. § 7422(d).8
On July 11, 2001, upon the FLRA General Counsel's motion for summary judgment and the VAMC's motion to dismiss, the presiding Administrative Law Judge ("ALJ") determined that the FLRA lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter because of the Under Secretary's section 7422(b) determination, which is not subject to review by "any other agency," including the FLRA. 38 U.S.C. § 7422(d); see U.S. Dep't of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Affairs Med. Ctr., Asheville, NC, 57 F.L.R.A. 681, 686-87, 2002 WL 1019134 (F.L.R.A. Jan. 31, 2002) ("VAMC Asheville"). The General Counsel filed exceptions to the ALJ's decision with the FLRA. Id. at 681, 2002 WL 1019134; Compl. ¶ 49. On January 31, 2002, the FLRA issued a decision and order agreeing with the ALJ's and VAMC's position that the Under Secretary's section 7422(b) determination deprived the FLRA of jurisdiction over the ULP proceeding. See id. at 683-84, 2002 WL 1019134; Compl. ¶ 50. The FLRA adopted the ALJ's findings, conclusions, and recommended Order. Id.
This case comes before this Court following the FLRA decision and final order of January 31, 2002. Plaintiff alleges that by issuing the section 7422(d) determination, Defendants "violated and misapplied 38 U.S.C. 7422(b) and (d), acted beyond the authority in 38 U.S.C. 7422(d), and engaged in conduct that is arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion by operation of 38 U.S.C. 7422(b) and (d)." Compl. ¶¶ 53, 55, 62. Additionally, Plaintiff alleges that Defendants have "denied plaintiff and its members of substantive due process of law in violation of the Fifth Amendment." Id. ¶ 60. According to Plaintiff, Defendants deprived Plaintiff of its property interest in the final and binding arbitration award "... without a rational basis, and without rational connection to any legitimate state interest." Id. ¶ 58. As relief, Plaintiff seeks from this Court: (1) a declaration that section 7422 determinations cannot be used to bar enforcement of the arbitration award in Plaintiffs favor; (2) an order to Defendants to withdraw the section 7422 determination concerning Plaintiffs grievance; (3) an injunction preventing Defendants from issuing a section 7422 determination pertaining to this matter; and (4) an order to Defendants to comply with, and to direct the VAMC in Asheville to comply with, the arbitrator's December 29, 1999 award. See Compl. at 16.
As the Court shall explain in detail below, Plaintiff is effectively seeking to appeal the FLRA jurisdictional ruling in the ULP proceeding, and the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has exclusive jurisdiction to review such matters. Accordingly, this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the present dispute and must dismiss Plaintiffs Complaint.
A court must dismiss a case when it lacks subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1). In general, a motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b) should not prevail "unless plaintiffs can prove no set of facts in support of their claim that would entitle them to relief." Kowal v. MCI Comm. Corp., 16 F.3d 1271, 1276 (D.C.Cir.1994) (citing Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957)). A court may appropriately dispose of a case under 12(b)(1) for standing, and may "consider the complaint supplemented by undisputed facts evidenced in the record, or the complaint supplemented by undisputed facts plus the court's resolution of disputed facts." Coalition for Underground Expansion v. Mineta, 333 F.3d 193, 198 (D.C.Cir.2003) (citations omitted); see also Artis v. Greenspan, 223 F.Supp.2d 149, 152 n. 1 (D.D.C.20...
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