The IRS filed an application for review of an FLRA ruling that the NTEU’s bargaining proposal did not conflict with the General Services Administration’s Federal Property Management Regulation on smoking, 41 C.F.R. §. 101-20.105-3, which accords to “agency heads” the responsibility of designating smoking areas.  The union’s proposal stated that private offices, individual desks and work stations would be designated as a smoking area at an employee’s request.  The agency refused to bargain.  The union filed a petition with the FLRA, which ruled that the disputed sections of the proposal were negotiable because they did not conflict with the GSA’s Federal Property Management Regulation on smoking.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia disagreed with the FLRA, ruling that Part B of the union’s proposal “directly conflicts with the Regulation by placing the situs of authority to designate smoking areas with the employees rather than with the agency.  We therefore grant the IRS’s petition for review.”

902 F.2d 998, 1990 U.S. App. LEXIS 6722, 134 LRRM 2134 (U.S.C.A. D.C. 1990).