Patent and Trademark Office and Patent Office Professional Association (Authority decision, February 24, 1986)

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 Patent Office Professional Association filed exceptions to an arbitration award served by mail on January 2, 1986. The Authority calculated that the exceptions were due by February 5, but received them on February 7. It dismissed the exceptions 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: The filing period for arbitration exceptions begins when the award is served.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v21 p48 ]

21:0048(10)AR

The decision of the Authority follows:

21 FLRA No. 10

PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
Agency

and

PATENT OFFICE PROFESSIONAL
ASSOCIATION
Union

Case No. 0-AR-1097

ORDER DISMISSING EXCEPTIONS

This case is before the Authority on exceptions to the award of Arbitrator Jacob Seidenberg 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 dismissed as untimely filed.

The Arbitrator's award is dated January 2, 1986, 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 February 5, 1986. However the exceptions were not filed until February 7, 1986. 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., February 24, 1986.

(s)---
Harold D. Kessler
Director of Case Management

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

/1/ Section 7122(b) of the Statute was amended by the Civil Service Miscellaneous Amendments Act of 1983 (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).