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Washington, D.C.—The six-month time limit for filing an unfair labor practice (ULP) charge against a federal agency can’t begin to run until the agency actually has committed the unfair practice, a federal appeals court ruled in upholding an appeal by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued the ruling against the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA), which had earlier dismissed a ULP filed by NTEU against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on grounds that it had not been filed on a timely basis.

The case arose out of NTEU’s attempt to enforce a properly obtained arbitration award in its favor.

In 2000, an arbitrator agreed with NTEU that the IRS violated its collective bargaining agreement when it refused to compensate employees for extra time spent commuting to temporary duty assignments. The arbitrator ordered the IRS not only to begin compensating employees for increased commuting times, but also to compile a list of employees who had been affected by the assignments as a means of determining appropriate back pay.

After the IRS failed to provide the required list, NTEU contacted the agency to determine whether it intended to comply with the arbitrator’s award. The IRS answered that it didn’t have to take any action to implement the arbitrator’s award “at this time.” That provided the first formal notification from the IRS that it wasn’t going to comply—and that action gave rise to the ULP.

The FLRA, however, dismissed NTEU’s claim as untimely and ruled that the ULP had to have been filed within six months of the arbitrator’s decision, regardless of when noncompliance occurred.

The DC Circuit flatly rejected the FLRA’s reasoning as leading to absurd results. It recognized that the proper period for filing the ULP was within six months of the date that the agency failed to comply with the arbitration decision—a later time period than the issuance of the arbitrator’s decision. The court agreed with NTEU that the FLRA’s rule impermissibly confused the violation of an award with the onset of the obligation to comply with that award.

The court concluded that NTEU’s charge was timely filed. It sent the case back to the Authority for further proceedings on the merits of the ULP.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing some 150,000 employees in 30 agencies and departments.