Social Security Administration and American Federation of Government Employees (Authority decision, September 30, 1987)

Final FLRA decision. The Authority dismisses the Social Security Administration's exceptions to an arbitration award as untimely. Under 5 U.S.C. § 7123(a)(1), an order involving an arbitral award is generally excluded from judicial review unless it involves an unfair labor practice under 5 U.S.C. § 7116. This decision does not decide an unfair labor practice.

Plain-English summary

The Social Security Administration challenged Arbitrator Donald Daughton's award. The Authority calculated that exceptions sent by mail or filed in person had to be timely by September 8, 1987. The agency filed its exceptions in person on September 9. Because the filing came one day after the deadline, the Authority dismissed the exceptions without reaching the merits of the award.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Arbitration exception deadline under 5 U.S.C. § 7122(b).
• Outcome: Agency exceptions dismissed as untimely.
• Key point: The in-person filing reached the Authority a day after the applicable deadline.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v29 p282 ]
29:0282(31)AR

The decision of the Authority follows:

29 FLRA NO. 31

SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

Agency

and

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF
GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES

Union

Case No. 0-AR-1424

ORDER DISMISSING EXCEPTIONS

This case is before the Authority on exceptions to the award of Arbitrator Donald Daughton filed by the Agency 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 as untimely filed. The Union filed a response thereto.

The Arbitrator's award is dated August 5, 1987, 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 section 2429.21 of the rules, as amended, 3 and section 2429.22 of the rules, any exceptions to the Arbitrator's award had to be either mailed to the national office of the Authority in Washington, D.C. and postmarked by the U.S. Postal Service no later than close of business on September 8, 1987 or, if filed in person, received at the Authority's national office no later than that same date if the exceptions are to be timely filed. However, the instant exceptions were filed in person at the Authority's national office on September 9, 1987.

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

For the Authority.

Issued, Washington, D.C., September 30, 1987.

Harold D. Kessler
Director of Case Management

FOOTNOTES

Footnote 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.

Footnote 2 49 Fed. Reg. 22623 (1984). The
amendments to section 2425.1 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations are applicable to exceptions pending or filed with the Authority on or after March 2, 1984.

Footnote 3 51 Fed. Reg. 45751 (1986). The
amendments to section 2429.21 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations are applicable to exceptions pending or filed with the Authority on or after December 31, 1986.