By Irene Brown
Editor

The District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 1999 U.S. Supreme court decision allowing federal employees to have union representation during inspector general investigations.

"The court found the IG to be agency management representatives which allows federal employees to use their Weingarten rights during IG investigations," said Bobby Harnage, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employees union.

Under the Weingarten rights, federal employees are entitled to union advice during any proceedings that could lead to disciplinary action. But in 1993 at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., the IG office questioned a flight center employee accused of plotting violence against fellow workers. While IG officials allowed the employee to have the union present during the questioning, they would not allow the representative to answer any questions. The employee was later fired.

The AFGE then filed an unfair labor practice charge against NASA, contending the agency had violated the employee’s Weingarten rights. During the hearing, the government argued that IG’s are independent of agency management so their investigations do not fall under Weingarten rights. The 11th Circuit Court, the Federal Labor Relations Authority and, in 1999, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of AFGE.

The government filed an appeal of the Supreme Court’s decision last year, alleging that the rule did not apply to criminal investigations by inspectors general. But the Court of Appeals finding stated "most investigations will have both administrative and criminal potential."

Harnage said the ruling was important to uphold the rights of federal employees.

"AFGE will remain vigilant in defending this critical right of union representation," he said.