[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 4]
[Revised as of July 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR1420.8]

[Page 61]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
                        AND CONCILIATION SERVICE
 
PART 1420--FEDERAL MEDIATION AND CONCILIATION SERVICE--ASSISTANCE IN THE HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 1420.8  FMCS deferral to parties' own private factfinding procedures.

    (a) The Service will defer to the parties' own privately agreed to 
factfinding procedure and decline to appoint a Board of Inquiry (BoI) as 
long as the parties' own procedure meets certain conditions so as to 
satisfy the Service's responsibilities under the Act. The Service will 
decline to appoint a BoI and leave the selection and appointment of a 
factfinder to the parties to a dispute if both the parties have agreed 
in writing to their own factfinding procedure which meets the following 
conditions:
    (1) The factfinding procedure must be invoked automatically at a 
specified time (for example, at contract expiration if no agreement is 
reached).
    (2) It must provide a fixed and determinate method for selecting the 
impartial factfinder(s).
    (3) It must provide that there can be no strike or lockout and no 
changes in conditions of employment (except by mutual agreement) prior 
to or during the factfinding procedure and for a period of at least 
seven days after the factfinding is completed.
    (4) It must provide that the factfinder(s) will make a written 
report to the parties, containing the findings of fact and the 
recommendations of the factfinder(s) for settling the dispute, a copy of 
which is sent to the Service. The parties to a dispute who have agreed 
to such a factfinding procedure should jointly submit a copy of such 
agreed upon procedure to the appropriate regional office of the Service 
at as early a date as possible, but in any event prior to the 
appointment of a BoI by the Service. See Sec. 1420.5(f) for the 
addresses of the regional offices.
    (b) Since the Service does not appoint the factfinder under 
paragraph (a) of this section, the Service cannot pay for such 
factfinder. In this respect, such deferral by the Service to the 
parties' own factfinding procedure is different from the use of 
stipulation agreements between the parties which give to the Service the 
authority to select and appoint a factfinder at a later date than the 
date by which a BoI would have to be appointed under the Act. Under such 
stipulation agreements by which the parties give the Service authority 
to appoint a factfinder at a later date, the Service can pay for the 
factfinder. However, in the deferral to the parties' own factfinding 
procedure, the parties choose their own factfinder and they pay for the 
factfinder.