Washington, D.C.
U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Compensation Claim Decision
Under section 3702 of title 31, United States Code
20th Logistics Readiness Squadron
Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina
Kimberly A. Steide, DPA
Principal Deputy Associate Director
Agency Compliance and Evaluation
Merit System Accountability and Compliance
07/21/2025
Date
he claimant is a former Federal civilian employee of the U.S. Department of the Air Force (hereafter referred to as “agency” and “Air Force”), assigned to the Fuels Management Flight, 20th Logistics Readiness Squadron, at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina. She requests the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) reconsider the agency’s denial of severance pay with full interest from the date of separation. She also requests “an appropriate tax gross-up or reimbursement to account for the increased tax burden resulting from delayed lump-sum payment.” We received the claim on March 26, 2025, and the agency administrative report on April 14, 2025. For the reasons discussed herein, the claim is denied for lack of jurisdiction.
Title 5, U.S.C. section 7121(a)(1), 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. section 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 claims of former 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 5 CFR section 178.101(b).
Information provided to OPM (i.e., Standard Form 50, effective July 24, 2019, block 37 displaying the bargaining unit status) shows the claimant occupied a bargaining unit position during the period covered by the claim. The Appropriated Fund Memorandum of Agreement under Chapter 71, Title 5 of the U.S. Code Between Shaw Air Force Base, S.C. and the American Federation of Government Employees Local Number 1872, dated April 2003, covering the claimant during the claim period does not specifically exclude compensation issues from the NGP (Article 37, 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.