Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 116 Part 3.djvu/640

 116 STAT. 2232 PUBLIC LAW 107-296—NOV. 25, 2002 Secretary and the Director, may be implemented immediately. "(ii) With respect to any parts of the proposal as to which recommendations have been made but not accepted by the Secretary and the Director, at any time after 30 calendar days have elapsed since the initiation of the congressional notification, consultation, and mediation procedures set forth in subparagraph (B), if the Secretary determines, in the Secretary's sole and unreviewable discretion, that further consultation and mediation is unlikely to produce agreement, the Secretary may implement any or all of such parts, including any modifications made in response to the recommendations as the Secretary determines advisable. "(iii) The Secretary shall promptly notify Congress of the implementation of any part of the proposal and shall furnish with such notice an explanation of the proposal, any changes made to the proposal as a result of recommendations from employee representatives, and of the reasons why implementation is appropriate under this subparagraph. "(D) CONTINUING COLLABORATION.—I f a proposal described in subparagraph (A) is implemented, the Secretary and the Director shall— "(i) develop a method for each employee representative to participate in any further planning or development which might become necessary; and "(ii) give each employee representative adequate access to information to make that participation productive. "(2) PROCEDURES.— Any procedures necessary to carry out this subsection shall be established by the Secretary and the Director jointly as internal rules of departmental procedure which shall not be subject to review. Such procedures shall include measures to ensure— "(A) in the case of employees within a unit with respect to which a labor organization is accorded exclusive recognition, representation by individuals designated or from among individuals nominated by such organization; "(B) in the case of any employees who are not within such a unit, representation by any appropriate organization which represents a substantial percentage of those employees or, if none, in such other manner as may be appropriate, consistent with the purposes of the subsection; "(C) the fair and expeditious handling of the consultation and mediation process described in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1), including procedures by which, if the number of employee representatives providing recommendations exceeds 5, such representatives select a committee or other unified representative with which the Secretary and Director may meet and confer; and "(D) the selection of representatives in a manner consistent with the relative number of employees represented by the organizations or other representatives involved. "(f) PROVISIONS RELATING TO APPEJ^LATE PROCEDURES. — "(1) SENSE OF CONGRESS.— It is the sense of Congress that—

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