American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2343 v. Federal Labor Relations Authority, 97-1355

CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (District of Columbia)
Citation144 F.3d 85,330 US App DC 136
Docket NumberNo. 97-1355,97-1355
Parties158 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2435, 330 U.S.App.D.C. 136 AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 2343, Petitioner, v. FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY, Respondent.
Decision Date29 May 1998

On Petition for Review of an Order of the Federal Labor Relations Authority.

Judith D. Galat argued the cause for petitioner. With her on the briefs was Mark D. Roth. Charles A. Hobbie entered an appearance.

David M. Smith, Solicitor, Federal Labor Relations Authority, argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief was James F. Blandford, Attorney. William R. Tobey, Deputy Solicitor, and William E. Persina, Attorney, entered appearances.

Before: RANDOLPH, ROGERS and TATEL, Circuit Judges.

TATEL, Circuit Judge:

After a government employer refused to provide documents requested by a union in connection with a pending grievance, the Federal Labor Relations Authority dismissed the union's unfair labor practice complaint, finding that the union failed to articulate "particularized need" for the documents. Because the Authority reasonably applied the appropriate legal standard, we deny the union's petition for review.

I

Collective bargaining and labor relations in the federal government are governed by the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute, Pub.L. No. 95-454, § 701, 92 Stat. 1191-1216 (1978) (codified as amended at 5 U.S.C. §§ 7101-7135 (1994 & Supp. II 1996)). That statute authorizes a labor organization accorded exclusive recognition for a unit of employees to act as the unit's exclusive representative, 5 U.S.C. § 7114(a)(1), and to participate in certain formal discussions between the employer and employees in the unit, id. § 7114(a)(2). The statute requires employers and exclusive representatives to "meet and negotiate in good faith for the purposes of arriving at a collective bargaining agreement." Id. § 7114(a)(4). Under the statute, collective bargaining agreements must establish procedures for the settlement of grievances, id. § 7121(a)(1), including arbitration, id. § 7121(b)(1)(C)(iii). Central to this case, section 7114(b)(4) of the statute requires agencies, as part of their obligation to negotiate in good faith, to provide exclusive representatives with information upon request:

(A) which is normally maintained by the agency in the regular course of business;

(B) which is reasonably available and necessary for full and proper discussion, understanding, and negotiation of subjects within the scope of collective bargaining; and

(C) which does not constitute guidance, advice, counsel, or training provided for management officials or supervisors relating to collective bargaining....

Id. § 7114(b)(4)(A)-(C).

Interpreting section 7114(b)(4)(B), this court requires that unions demonstrate "particularized need" for information they seek. Department of the Air Force, Scott Air Force Base v. FLRA, 104 F.3d 1396, 1400 (D.C.Cir.1997) (citing NLRB v. FLRA, 952 F.2d 523, 531-32 (D.C.Cir.1992)). In response to a union request for information, the employer must balance the union's particularized need against its own countervailing anti-disclosure interest. U.S. Dep't of Justice, Bureau of Prisons, Allenwood Fed. Prison Camp v. FLRA, 988 F.2d 1267, 1270 (D.C.Cir.1993). Applying the "particularized need" standard, the Authority requires a union to "articulat[e], with specificity, why it needs the requested information, including the uses to which the union will put the information and the connection between those uses and the union's representational responsibilities under the Statute." IRS, Wash., D.C., and IRS, Kansas City Serv. Ctr., Kansas City, Mo., 50 F.L.R.A. 661, 669 (1995). Because enabling the employer to weigh its privacy interests against the union's disclosure interests is one of the purposes of the articulation requirement, the union ordinarily may not rely upon conclusory assertions of need. See Allenwood Fed. Prison Camp, 988 F.2d at 1271; IRS, Kansas City, 50 F.L.R.A. at 670.

This case arises from a February 1993 disturbance in a federal penitentiary in Marion, Illinois. Immediately after correctional officers released an inmate named Baptiste from segregated confinement into the prison recreation area, Baptiste "squared off" to fight another inmate, causing several officers--one of whom was injured in the incident--to subdue Baptiste and return him to the segregation unit. Afterwards, a supervisor accused Officer Aubrey Francis, one of the officers who removed Baptiste, of using excessive force. When the matter was referred to the Bureau of Prison's Office of Internal Affairs, Francis was placed on "home duty" for the duration of the investigation.

The American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 2343 filed a grievance alleging that by releasing an inmate with known violent tendencies into the general prison population, the penitentiary violated the collective bargaining agreement's health and safety provision. Seeking a complete investigation of all supervisors involved in the incident, the grievance accused the penitentiary of:

a systematic and calculated effort on the part of the above mentioned supervisors to violate the civil rights of these two inmates and force staff into a position of having to fight an inmate when there was no need. Because of this effort on these individuals [sic] part one Officer is at home on "home duty" because of a memo written by a supervisor and one Officer is hurt and may never work again trying to transport Baptiste back to 1 Unit.

Asserting that it had legitimate reasons for releasing Baptiste, the penitentiary denied the grievance. The Union then invoked the collective bargaining agreement's arbitration clause.

Preparing for arbitration, the Union asked the penitentiary for all materials in its possession relating to the Baptiste incident, saying only that it needed the information "to prepare the case for arbitration." When the penitentiary failed to respond, the Union made a second request, this time invoking section 7114(b)(4) and stating that it needed the information to "effectively carry out its representational obligation in processing of a grievance (in this case the arbitrational hearing)" because "[m]anagement has this information to present during the arbitration and the Union needs this same information so it may effectively present its case." The penitentiary denied the request, concluding that the Union had failed to articulate particularized need since "none of the allegations of staff misconduct were substantiated by the investigation report you are requesting." The Union then filed an unfair labor practice charge with the Authority.

Reviewing in camera two OIA reports--one concerning the Francis investigation and the other an allegation that a correctional officer made a false statement during the investigation--the administrative law judge found that because both reports included information supporting the Union's claim that correctional officers knew of Baptiste's violent tendencies, the information was "necessary" for purposes of section 7114(b)(4)(B). Because the ALJ also found that the Union failed to establish "particularized need" for the documents, however, he concluded that the penitentiary's refusal to furnish them did not violate the statute.

Over the dissent of one member, the Authority adopted the ALJ's conclusion. Characterizing as "conclusory" the Union's claim that it "needed the information to prepare for arbitration of its previously filed grievance," the Authority found that the Union failed to articulate particularized need for the documents. U.S. Dep't of Justice, Fed. Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Penitentiary, Marion, Ill., 52 F.L.R.A. 1195, 1202 (1997). The Authority then examined the grievance itself to decide whether, notwithstanding the Union's failure to articulate particularized need, the penitentiary could have made a reasoned judgment about its obligation to disclose the information. Acknowledging that the Union claimed at the hearing before the ALJ that it was grieving both whether Francis was wrongly placed on home duty and whether correctional officials created a safety risk by releasing Baptiste, the Authority concluded, based on its reading of the original grievance--the only document the agency had before it when it rejected the Union's request--that the home duty issue "was not one that the [penitentiary] had reason to know was part of the arbitration for which the Union requested information." Id. at 1203. Also finding that "the Union never explained to the [penit...

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