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57 FLRA No. 113
U.S. Dept. of Defense, Rhode Island National Guard, Cranston, Rhode Island and Association of Civilian Technicians, Rhode Island Chapter (McInerny, Arbitrator), 0-AR-3406(Decided November 30, 2001)
The Arbitrator found that the Agency violated the parties' collective bargaining agreement and § 7116(a)(1) and (5) of the Statute by prohibiting an individual from serving on the Union's bargaining team. As a result, the Arbitrator ordered the Agency to make no demands or requests that the Union use or not use any person on its bargaining team. The Authority denied the exceptions.
The Authority conclude that the nonfact exceptions did not establish grounds for finding the award deficient. The Authority also found unnecessary to address the Agency's arguments that the Arbitrator violated § 7105(a)(2)(B) of the Statute and exceeded his authority by addressing the issue of the national union's representational status.
The Authority noted that it has consistently recognized that when an arbitrator has based an award on separate and independent grounds, an appealing party must establish that all of the grounds are deficient in order to have the award found deficient. In those circumstances, if the excepting party has not demonstrated that the award is deficient on one of the grounds relied on by the Arbitrator, it is unnecessary to address exceptions to the other ground.
The Arbitrator's award in this case is based on his finding that Section III(a)(1) of the parties' MOU did not preclude the Union from having a representative from the national union on its negotiation team. As grounds for the Arbitrator's award, that finding is separate and independent from the Arbitrator's findings concerning the national union's representational status. Therefore, as the Agency did not demonstrate that the Arbitrator's findings regarding the parties' MOU rendered the award deficient, the award would stand regardless of whether the Arbitrator made erroneous findings regarding the national union's representational status.