In 50 FLRA No. 86 and 51 FLRA No. 26, the Authority adopted a new analytical approach in dealing with union requests for information under § 7114(b)(4). Under this approach, the union must establish a "particularized need" for the information and the agency must assert any countervailing interests. The Authority then balances the one against the other to determine whether a refusal to provide information is a unfair labor practice. Regarding particularized need, FLRA said the following:
[A] union requesting information under [§ 7114(b)(4)] must establish a particularized need for the information by articulating, with specificity, why it needs the requested information, including the uses to which the union will put the information and the connection between those uses and the union`s representational responsibilities . . . . [This] requirement . . . will not be satisfied merely by showing that [the] requested information is or would be relevant or useful to a union. Instead, a union must establish that [the] requested information is "required in order for the union adequately to represent its members." Justice v. FLRA, 991 F.2d at 290.