Amos v. United States

22 Cl. Ct. 724, 30 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 422, 1991 U.S. Claims LEXIS 88, 1991 WL 38642
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedMarch 21, 1991
DocketNo. 666-81C
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 22 Cl. Ct. 724 (Amos v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Amos v. United States, 22 Cl. Ct. 724, 30 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 422, 1991 U.S. Claims LEXIS 88, 1991 WL 38642 (cc 1991).

Opinion

OPINION

ROBINSON, Judge:

This case is before the court on defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiffs’ complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdic[725]*725tion. Defendant contends that under the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA), 5 U.S.C. § 7101, et seq., plaintiffs’ exclusive method for resolving Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. § 207(a), compensation claims is through the grievance procedures in their collective bargaining agreements (agreements). Plaintiffs concur with defendant that this court does not have jurisdiction over post-September 14, 1981 claims, covered by agreements executed subsequent to the CSRA, but only with respect to those plaintiffs who still have access to the grievance procedures negotiated by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) (Council of Prison Locals) collective bargaining unit (unit) under which these particular claims accrued. Rather than agree to dismissal of their claims, however, such plaintiffs seek a referral of these claims to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for resolution. However, the court has determined that under RUSCC 60.1 and 28 U.S.C. § 1631, it cannot transfer to an administrative forum, but must dismiss, those claims over which it has no jurisdiction. Therefore, this request will be denied.

Plaintiffs allege that this court does have jurisdiction over the post-September 14, 1981 claims of those plaintiffs who, for whatever reason, no longer have access to the AFGE unit’s grievance procedures. The court concludes that it has insufficient information to resolve this dispute respecting those plaintiffs, if any, for whom grievance procedures are no longer available. Therefore, at this time the court cannot determine whether it has jurisdiction over their claims. Thus, the court will grant defendant’s motion to dismiss the post-September 14, 1981 claims with respect to those plaintiffs who still have access to the AFGE unit’s grievance procedures as of the date of this opinion, but will defer its ruling upon defendant’s motion to dismiss respecting those plaintiffs who do not. After identification of these latter plaintiffs in further proceedings, the court will rule upon defendant’s motion as to these plaintiffs in a subsequent order.

The principal remaining issue for determination in response to defendant’s motion to dismiss is whether this court has jurisdiction over plaintiffs’ claims which arose under an agreement that was effective pri- or to the CSRA. After considering the parties’ arguments, the court concludes that under the CSRA’s savings provision, 5 U.S.C. § 7135, and Executive Order 11491 (E.O. 11491), the court does have jurisdiction over plaintiffs’ claims accruing beginning on November 13, 1979 and extending through September 14, 1981. Accordingly, defendant’s motion to dismiss will be denied with respect to these claims.

Factual Background

Plaintiffs seek recovery under the FLSA, 29 U.S.C. § 207(a), and the Back Pay Act, 5 U.S.C. § 5596, for wages due plaintiffs for FLSA overtime compensation, interest and attorneys’ fees.

Plaintiffs are non-exempt cook foremen for the Bureau of Prison’s (BOP’s) Peters-burg, Virginia and Big Spring, Texas, installations. They supervise and assist inmates in the preparation and serving of food to inmates and employees at these installations. Plaintiffs seek recovery from the BOP for time worked in excess of 8 hours per day, 40 hours per week and for “portal” time, which is time spent picking up and then returning equipment to control booths at the beginning and the end of their shifts.1

Plaintiffs filed suit in this case on November 13, 1981 for claims dating back over six years. In Amos v. United States, 13 Cl.Ct. 442 (1987), this court determined that under the test announced in Hickman v. United States, 10 Cl.Ct. 550 (1986), a two-year statute of limitations applied to plaintiffs, limiting their claims to those arising after November 12, 1979.

[726]*726Prior to and during the pendency of this suit, plaintiffs have worked under several consecutive agreements that are here relevant. All of these agreements contained grievance procedures which were the exclusive procedures for resolution of disputes within their coverage. These procedures were negotiated in accordance with terms of either E.O. 11491 or the CSRA, whichever was in effect when the agreement was enacted. The first agreement was entered into on June 1,1978 (June 1978 agreement). It was initially effective through November 30, 1979, but was extended until a successor agreement was enacted on September 15, 1981 (September 1981 agreement).2

The June 1978 agreement was subject to E.O. 11491. Section 13, E.O. 11491 provided that:

(a) An agreement between an agency and a labor organization shall provide a procedure, applicable only to the unit, for the consideration of grievances. The coverage and scope of the procedures shall be negotiated by the parties to the agreement with the exception that it may not cover matters for which a statutory appeal procedure exists____
(Emphasis added.)

Plaintiffs’ subsequent agreements, beginning with the September 1981 agreement, were all negotiated after the effective date, January 11, 1979, of the CSRA. All agreements executed on or after this date were subject to the CSRA and not to earlier orders such as E.O. 11491. The CSRA, as codified in 5 U.S.C. § 7121, provides that:

(a)(1) [A]ny collective bargaining agreement shall provide procedures for the settlement of grievances____ [T]he procedures shall be the exclusive procedures for resolving grievances which fall within its coverage.3
(a)(2) Any collective bargaining agreement may exclude any matter from the application of the grievance procedures which are provided for in the agreement. (Emphasis added.)

The CSRA also contained the following savings provision, 5 U.S.C. § 7135:

(a) Nothing contained in this chapter shall preclude—
(1) [T]he renewal or continuation of an exclusive recognition, certification of an exclusive representative, or a lawful agreement between an agency and an exclusive representative of its employees; which is entered into before the effective date of this chapter[.]

While the agreements relevant to this proceeding were entered into both prior and subsequent to the CSRA, all of the claims themselves arose after the enactment of the CSRA.

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Bluebook (online)
22 Cl. Ct. 724, 30 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 422, 1991 U.S. Claims LEXIS 88, 1991 WL 38642, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/amos-v-united-states-cc-1991.