Legal Briefs: No free flights

Every Friday on GovExec.com, Legal Briefs reviews several cases that involve, or provide valuable lessons to, federal managers. We report on the decisions of a wide range of review panels, including the Merit Systems Protection Board, the Federal Labor Relations Authority and federal courts.

Under the Liaison and Familiarization Training program, air traffic controllers and other Federal Aviation Administration employees sit in cockpits with pilots on commercial flights. The idea is to give the FAA employees a first-hand look at aircraft performance and shows them how pilots interact with air control towers and deal with in-flight problems.

But, the system has been abused, with employees using the program for personal travel needs, agency officials have admitted. As such, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association signed an agreement with FAA in April putting some limits on the program to prevent employees from using the training as a travel perk.

So when the National Association for Government Employees' local R3-10 asked the FAA to allow its air traffic assistants to participate in the program, the agency was wary. In a case that went before the Federal Labor Relations Authority, the FAA said allowing the free flights would violate standards of ethical conduct that prohibit employees from accepting gifts. Union officials argued that the training would help further the agency's mission and would benefit the employees.

The FLRA decided the case was a clear violation of ethical standards. The air traffic assistants, they ruled, have no duties that would be improved by the training. Without valid training benefits, FLRA said, the employees cannot accept free travel and the proposal violates federal law.

Lesson: Ask for too many perks and you might get grounded.

NAGE Local R3-10 v. Federal Aviation Administration (55 FLRA No. 146), Federal Labor Relations Authority, September 24, 1999.

Cost-benefit analysis

Here's a travel math problem:

A ticket costs $589.40 from an agency's contract carrier. The same ticket costs $211.40 through Delta Airlines, a non-contract carrier, but only if it is purchased through the Delta Senior Select Savings Plus Club, a frequent flyer program. Membership fees into the frequent flyer program are $40. Which ticket is cheaper?

Donald Leavitt, a civilian employee of the Army Corps of Engineers, did the math. Leavitt realized he could save his agency $338 by joining the Delta club. He received authorization to purchase the ticket from a non-contract carrier and later submitted his travel voucher.

But the agency refused to refund Leavitt the $40 membership fee. Under federal travel regulations, it is left to the discretion of the agency to reimburse employees for frequent flyer program fees. Leavitt asked the General Services Administration's Board of Contract Appeals to review the agency's judgment.

GSBCA said Leavitt would not have bought the cheaper ticket if he didn't think he would be reimbursed for the cost of the membership fee. Under such circumstances, the agency abused its discretion by denying the reimbursement. Leavitt got his $40 back.

Lesson: Not all agencies are good with numbers.

Donald Leavitt v. Army Corps of Engineers, General Services Administration's Board of Contract Appeals (GSBCA 15062-TRAV), September 28, 1999.

Wanted: New Lawyer

When a white male filed a discrimination complaint after two black females were chosen for jobs that he applied for, the Postal Service defended itself by saying that other black females had also been passed over for the jobs.

That's not a good argument, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said. If the commission allowed that argument to stand, employers could get away with discrimination "simply by ensuring that the group of rejected applicants included members of the group in favor of which the employer sought to discriminate."

The Postal Service also offered no evidence that the black females who were hired were more qualified than the white male, so the EEOC ordered the agency to promote him and give him back pay.

Lesson: You can't win a discrimination case by default.

Swift v. USPS, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Appeal No. 01975658, Aug. 6, 1999.