Charleston Naval Shipyard and Federal Employees Metal Trades Council (Authority decision, December 9, 1985)

Final FLRA decision. This is a final order of the Federal Labor Relations Authority on exceptions to an arbitration award. Under 5 U.S.C. § 7123(a)(1), orders involving arbitral awards are generally excluded from judicial review unless they involve an unfair labor practice under 5 U.S.C. § 7116. This decision does not state that it involves one.

Plain-English summary

The Federal Employees Metal Trades Council of Charleston filed exceptions to an arbitration award served on October 21, 1985. The Authority calculated a November 25 deadline. The exceptions arrived November 26, and the Authority dismissed them as untimely without addressing the award's substance.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Arbitration exception deadline under 5 U.S.C. § 7122(b) and 5 C.F.R. § 2425.1.
• Outcome: Union exceptions dismissed as untimely.
• Key point: A one-day delay in filing an arbitration exception is enough to prevent review.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v20 p807 ]

20:0807(99)AR

The decision of the Authority follows:

20 FLRA No. 99

FEDERAL EMPLOYEES METAL TRADES
COUNCIL OF CHARLESTON
Union

and

CHARLESTON NAVAL SHIPYARD
Activity

Case No. 0-AR-1063

ORDER DISMISSING EXCEPTIONS

This case is before the Authority on exceptions to the award of Arbitrator Arthur T. Van Wart filed by the Union pursuant to section 7122(a) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute and section 2425.1 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations. For the reasons stated below, it has been determined that the exceptions must be dismissed untimely filed.

The Arbitrator's award is dated October 21, 1985, and appears to have been served on the parties by mail on the same day.

Under section 7122(b) of the Statute, as amended, /1/ and section 2425.1 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations, as amended, /2/ which amendments are applicable to exceptions pending or filed with the Authority on or after March 2, 1984, and under sections 2429.21 and 2429.22 of the Rules and Regulations, which are also applicable to computation of the time limit here involved, any exceptions to the Arbitrator's award in this case had to be filed with the Authority no later than the close of business on November 25, 1985. However the exceptions were not filed until November 26, 1985. Therefore, the exceptions were untimely filed.

Accordingly, as the Union's exceptions were untimely filed, they are hereby dismissed.

For the Authority.

Issued, Washington, D.C., December 9, 1985
(s)---
Harold D. Kessler
Managing Director for Case
Processing

--------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------

/1/ Section 7122(b) of the Statute was amended by the Civil Service Miscellaneous Amendments Act of 1953 (Pub.L. No. 98-224, 4, 98 Stat. 47, 48 (1984)) to provide that the 30-day period for filing exceptions to an arbitrator's award begins on the date the award is served on the filing party.

/2/ 49 Fed. Reg. 22623 (1984).