Washington, D.C.
U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Leave Claim Decision
Under section 3702 of title 31, United States Code
Military Sealift Fleet Support Command
U.S. Department of the Navy
Yokohama, Japan
Kimberly A. Steide, DPA
Principal Deputy Associate Director
Agency Compliance and Evaluation
Merit System Accountability and Compliance
07/14/2025
Date
The claimant is a Federal civilian employee of the U.S. Department of the Navy (hereafter referred to as “agency” and “Navy”), assigned to the Ship Support Unit, Military Sealift Fleet Support Command in Yokohama, Japan. He requests the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) reconsider his agency’s denial of an accumulation of 360 hours of annual leave and home leave. We received the claim on October 22, 2024, and the agency administrative report on May 30, 2025. For the reasons discussed herein, the claim is denied for lack of jurisdiction.
Section 7121(a)(1), of title 5, U.S.C. directs that except as provided elsewhere in the statute, the grievance procedures in a negotiated collective bargaining agreement (CBA) shall be the exclusive remedy for resolving matters that fall within the coverage of the CBA. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has found the plain language of 5 U.S.C. 7121(a)(1) to be clear, and as such, limits the administrative resolution of a federal employee’s grievance to the negotiated procedures set forth in the CBA. Mudge v. United States, 308 F.3d 1220, 1228 (Fed Cir. 2002). Further, the Federal Circuit also found that all matters not specifically excluded from the grievance process by the CBA fall within the coverage of the CBA. Id. at 1231. As such, OPM cannot assert jurisdiction over the compensation or leave claims of Federal employees who are or were subject to a negotiated grievance procedure (NGP) under a CBA between the employee’s agency and labor union for any time during the claim period, unless the matter is or was specifically excluded from the CBA’s NGP. See title 5, Code of Federal Regulations, section 178.101(b).
Information provided to OPM (i.e., Standard Form 50, effective November 23, 2020, block 37, displaying the bargaining unit status) shows the claimant occupied a bargaining unit position during the period covered by the claim. The CBA between Director, Military Sealift Fleet Support Command, Commanding Officer, Sealift Logistics Command, and the Military Sealift Command TAGOS Project Office, Military Sealift Command, Logistics Directorate, Logistics Field Detachment, Norfolk, Virginia, and the American Federation of Government Employees, Local 53, covering the claimant during the claim period does not specifically exclude leave issues from the NGP (Article 16, Negotiated Grievance Procedure). Therefore, this claim must be construed as covered by the NGP the claimant was subject to during the claim period, and OPM has no jurisdiction to adjudicate this claim.
This settlement is final. No further administrative review is available within OPM. Nothing in this settlement limits the claimant’s right to bring an action in an appropriate United States court.