Case: Labor Arbitration/Union Leave (Arb.)

Arbitrator Shianne Scott ruled that the Federal Bureau of Prisons violated the collective bargaining agreement by failing to pay the grievant, a union president, for eight hours he spent working on mandatory EEOC interrogatories during his off-duty weekend hours in March 2024. Arbitrator Scott found that federal regulations require employees responding to EEOC matters to be considered in duty status regardless of their regular hours. However, the arbitrator denied the union’s claims regarding two December 2023 official time requests, finding the agency had legitimate staffing reasons for those denials and had offered reasonable alternatives.