FLRA NEWS

FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY · WASHINGTON, DC · 20424

December 6, 1996 · PR 120-96
Contact: Helenann Hirsch
202-482-6500

The Federal Labor Relations Authority today announced that a pilot settlement project initiated in the Office of Administrative Law Judges last year will become a permanent program in the office. The program gives parties a chance to resolve unfair labor practice complaints by jointly agreeing to participate in settlement conference negotiations before the trial. Over 80% of the unfair labor practice cases submitted by agencies and unions to the pilot settlement project were voluntarily settled before trial during the last fiscal year.

"The high settlement rate of cases in the pilot project during the first year demonstrated that with the FLRA’s assistance, unions and agencies can successfully resolve many of their problems themselves, without costly, time-consuming litigation," said FLRA Chair Phyllis Segal. "We hope that making the program a permanent part of the Office of Administrative Law Judges will build on this success and that more and more parties will take advantage of the opportunity to amicably settle their disputes short of trial."

The FLRA is an independent agency that administers the labor-management relations program for over 1.9 million federal employees world-wide. The FLRA’s Office of Administrative Law Judges presides over trials and renders decisions in unfair labor practice cases prosecuted by the FLRA’s Office of the General Counsel.