FLRA to Close Boston Regional Office

The Federal Labor Relations Authority is closing its offices in Boston, Massachusetts. Here is what this means for pending cases.

The Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) recently closed its office in Dallas, Texas. The announcement of the Dallas office closure was outlined in the Federal Register on September 13, 2018. As a result of the Dallas office closing, there are also changes to the geographical jurisdictions of the Atlanta, Chicago, and Denver Regional Directors for the FLRA.

The FLRA has now announced it is closing the Boston Regional Office and changing the jurisdiction of this office to the Washington, D.C. and Chicago Regional Directors. This latest event is not a surprise. William Tosick, Executive Director of the FLRA, previously indicated there would probably be a Federal Register announcement regarding the closure of the Boston office early in November.

The Federal Register announcement of the closure is dated November 1, 2018.

After considering regional caseloads, operating costs, rental costs, and staffing, the FLRA’s three-Member adjudicatory body approved these changes as part of the Agency’s reform plan.

Effective November 16, 2018, unfair labor practice charges, representation petitions, or any other type of case pleadings cannot be filed with the Boston Regional Office.

After November 16, cases from Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont should be filed with the Washington, D.C. Regional Office.

Cases in Puerto Rico will be handled by, the Chicago Regional Office of the FLRA.

All cases pending with the Boston Regional Office, at the time of its closure, will be transferred to the Washington, D.C. or Chicago Regional Offices.

The primary factors considered in the decision to close these two offices included:

  • Five-year average case intake for each regional office;
  • Annual rent costs for each regional office outside of D.C.;
  • The number of employees in each region; and
  • Proximity to another regional office.

The FLRA’s Office of the General Counsel is the independent investigative and prosecutorial component of the FLRA.

The FLRA administers the labor-management relations program for about 2.1 million non-Postal federal employees worldwide. About 1.2 million of these federal employees are represented by unions in 2,200 bargaining units. The mission of the agency is to resolve disputes under the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute and ensuring provisions of this law are followed.

About the Author

Ralph Smith has several decades of experience working with federal human resources issues. He has written extensively on a full range of human resources topics in books and newsletters and is a co-founder of two companies and several newsletters on federal human resources. Follow Ralph on Twitter: @RalphSmith47