O'Conner v. United States

60 Fed. Cl. 164, 2004 U.S. Claims LEXIS 65, 2004 WL 717113
CourtUnited States Court of Federal Claims
DecidedMarch 30, 2004
DocketNo. 00-343C
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 60 Fed. Cl. 164 (O'Conner v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Federal Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
O'Conner v. United States, 60 Fed. Cl. 164, 2004 U.S. Claims LEXIS 65, 2004 WL 717113 (uscfc 2004).

Opinion

OPINION

MILLER, Judge.

This case is before the court after oral argument on defendant’s second motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, second motion for partial summary judgment. Plaintiffs are covered by a collective bargaining agreement that commits them to binding arbitration of their grievances. Intervening between defendant’s two dispositive motions was an appellate ruling that overturned dismissal of plaintiffs’ claims for lack of jurisdiction, but affirmed this court’s alternate ruling on the merits that certain claims were barred [166]*166by a settlement agreement negotiated by plaintiffs’ unions. For the present motion, defendant separates plaintiffs into three categories: 1) plaintiffs with job categories listed in an appendix to the settlement agreement that provided for the payment of past and certain future claims and for arbitration of disputes about overtime pay eligibility in the future; 2) plaintiffs represented by 8 additional bargaining units that signed the same settlement agreement, as well as those plaintiffs represented by other bargaining units that signed agreements substantially similar to the settlement agreement; and 3) plaintiffs who have failed to file written consents to this suit within the period mandated by the applicable statute of limitations. This court’s preliminary task is to determine whether these categories appropriately group the plaintiffs. Provided that the categories withstand plaintiffs’ attempts to elude them, the court next considers whether the mandate rule precludes the first category of plaintiffs from pursuing their claims, whether the doctrine of law of the case bars the claims of those plaintiffs in the second category, and whether the claims of those plaintiffs who have not filed written consents must be dismissed.

FACTS

Because the facts of this case appear in two prior opinions, only a brief summary follows. See O’Connor v. United States, 308 F.3d 1233 (Fed.Cir.2002) (“O’Connor II”), rev’g in part, aff'g in part and remanding 50 Fed.Cl. 285 (2001) (“O’Connor I”). An asserted violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 207 (2000) (“FLSA”), provided the impetus for this case. Plaintiffs claimed that the Defense Logistics Agency (the “DLA”) failed to compensate the overtime work performed by defense contract workers at the General Schedule (“GS”) grade levels of 9 and above.

The American Federation of Government Employees (“AFGE”), Local 2433, served as the exclusive bargaining unit representative for 261 employees of the Defense Contract Management District of the West (“DCMDW”).1 AFGE Local 2433’s collective bargaining agreement (the “CBA”) bound all bargaining unit employees, including those 261 DCMDW employees who became plaintiffs before the Court of Federal Claims in O’Connor I. The CBA provided that a four-step grievance process would be the exclusive procedure for resolving grievances.

Ten other AFGE locals also filed “substantively identical” grievances against the DLA. O’Connor I, 50 Fed.Cl. at 287. On July 14, 1999, those 11 AFGE locals executed a global settlement agreement resolving the union grievances, which was signed by the president of AFGE Local 2433 (the “Settlement Agreement”). Appendix C to the Settlement Agreement listed positions, the status of which as FLSA exempt or non-exempt was in dispute. The 81 plaintiffs in Appendix C positions accepted $200.00 payments from the DLA and agreed that, “[i]n exchange for this payment, no backpay, interest or liquidated damages will accrue for employees who occupy the positions identified in Appendix C for FLSA claims for the time period between the date the agreement is signed and nine months thereafter — i.e., up to April 14, 2000.” O’Connor I, 50 Fed.Cl. at 288.

In O’Connor I this court granted defendant’s motion to dismiss due to lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Assuming, however, that jurisdiction were present, the court ruled that defendant would be entitled to partial summary judgment on the ground that the Settlement Agreement constituted an accord and satisfaction. In deciding that defendant had discharged its burden, thereby entitling it to partial summary judgment in its favor, the court concluded that the “Settlement Agreement was intended to resolve the FLSA claims of all the bargaining unit employees occupying the positions at the GS-9 level or above.” O’Connor I, 50 Fed.Cl. at 294. Those bargaining unit employees en[167]*167compassed plaintiffs from AFGE Local 2433 holding GS-9 positions or above.

The Settlement Agreement satisfied the requisites for accord and satisfaction: proper subject matter, competent parties, a meeting of the minds, and consideration. The court also found AFGE Local 2433 to be a competent representative, as per the Civil Service Reform Act provision, 5 U.S.C. § 7121(a)(2)(c)(iii) (2000) (the “CSRA”), which stipulates that the “union is the exclusive and binding representative for all federal employees, even those not belonging to the union.” O’Connor I, 50 Fed.Cl. at 294. The Settlement Agreement “confirm[ed] the parties’ mutual intention to satisfy fully plaintiffs’ claims.” Id. at 295. As evidence of this intent, the court quoted language of the Settlement Agreement indicating that the $5,285,000.00 was derived by dividing the total, minus attorneys’ fees, among the bargaining unit employees in the eleven participating locals.2

The Federal Circuit reversed, in part, holding that jurisdiction was present, but also affirmed, in part, upholding the court’s alternative grant of partial summary judgment. Because plaintiffs-appellants conceded that AFGE Local 2433 was their exclusive bargaining unit representative, the Federal Circuit found no merit in the argument that an accord and satisfaction would bind only the union, but not individual employees. The CSRA provides that a local has the right “in its own behalf or on behalf of any employee in the unit represented by the exclusive representative, to present and process grievances.” 5 U.S.C. § 7121(b)(1)(C)®. The union followed the grievance procedure outlined in the CBA and “acted on behalf of appellants3 to settle their FLSA claims. Appellants are therefore bound.” O’Connor II, 308 F.3d at 1241.

Appellants had conceded that the settlement agreement satisfied the accord and satisfaetion requirements. See O’Connor II, 308 F.3d at 1240. The Federal Circuit rejected plaintiffs’ remaining argument that the doctrine of accord and satisfaction could not apply to FLSA claims. Distinguishing Brooklyn Savings Bank v. O’Neil, 324 U.S. 697, 65 S.Ct. 895, 89 L.Ed. 1296 (1945) (holding employee cannot waive FLSA rights), and Lynn’s Food Stores v. United States,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
60 Fed. Cl. 164, 2004 U.S. Claims LEXIS 65, 2004 WL 717113, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oconner-v-united-states-uscfc-2004.