The Supreme Court on Thursday reaffirmed that state national guards operate under the jurisdiction of the Federal Labor Relations Authority when they supervise a cadre of hybrid federal-state employees.
In Ohio Adjutant General’s Department v. Federal Labor Relations Authority, the state of Ohio challenged the FLRA’s authority to regulate the labor practices of state militias under the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act.
At issue is the state national guards’ corps of technicians, who are civilian federal employees who work in a variety of clerical, administrative and technical roles to support National Guard operations. These employees, referred to as “dual status technicians,” are hired, fired and supervised by state national guards, but are federal workers paid by the Defense Department and afforded the same rights and protections most other federal employees receive, including those associated with collective bargaining.
In 2016, the Ohio National Guard repudiated an expired but still in-effect collective bargaining agreement with the union of technicians, arguing that the state is neither bound by the contract nor the Civil Service Reform Act. It then cancelled the union dues payroll deductions from most dues-paying members, prompting a series of unfair labor practice complaints that the FLRA upheld in 2020, triggering the court case.
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