Page:Ohio Adjutant General's Department v. FLRA.pdf/8

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Cite as: 598 U. S. ____ (2023)
5

Opinion of the Court

and that the Guard’s actions in repudiating the CBA violated the Statute. It thus ordered petitioners to follow the mandatory terms of the 2011 CBA, bargain in good faith going forward, and reinstate Union dues withholding. A divided panel of the FLRA adopted the Administrative Law Judge’s findings, conclusions, and remedial order.

The Guard petitioned for review in the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which denied the petition. 21 F. 4th 401 (2021). The Sixth Circuit held that the Guard is an agency subject to the Statute when it operates in its capacity as employer of dual-status technicians. The court further found that dual-status technicians are federal civilian employees with collective-bargaining rights under the Statute. Thus, because the FLRA has authority to enforce those collective-bargaining rights, the court concluded that this dispute fell within its jurisdiction.

We granted certiorari to consider whether the FLRA had jurisdiction over this labor dispute under the Statute. 598 U. S. ___ (2022).[1]

II

Under the FSLMRS, it is “an unfair labor practice for an agency” “to interfere with, restrain, or coerce any employee in the exercise by the employee of any right under” the Statute. 5 U. S. C. §7116(a)(1). The FLRA’s jurisdiction over this unfair labor practices dispute thus turns on whether petitioners are an “agency” for purposes of the Statute when they act in their capacities as supervisors of dual-status technicians, a question bounded by a series of defined terms. The Statute defines an “agency” as “an Executive


  1. We did not grant certiorari to consider petitioners’ additional question presented, which disputed the constitutionality of the FLRA’s authority to regulate the labor practices of state militia members who are not employed in the service of the United States. Consequently, we address only the statutory question presented, and our holding is limited to the unique class of federal employees hired and supervised by state adjutants general.