Panama Canal Commission and Maritime/Metal Trades Council, Panama Area Trades Council (Authority decision, March 18, 1994)

Final FLRA decision. This order dismisses the union's arbitration exceptions and ends the exceptions proceeding. 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 order decides filing timeliness and does not decide an unfair labor practice.

Plain-English summary

The Maritime/Metal Trades Council challenged an arbitration award involving the Panama Canal Commission. The union sent its exceptions to the Authority's Office of the General Counsel, which forwarded them to the Docket Room after the filing deadline. The Authority found the exceptions late whether the award was served by mail on its December 15 date or delivered to the union on December 22. Because the filing deadline could not be extended or waived, the Authority dismissed the exceptions without reaching their merits.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Arbitration exception filing rules at 5 C.F.R. §§ 2425.1(b), 2429.21(b), and 2429.24(a).
• Outcome: Exceptions dismissed as untimely; arbitration award not reviewed on the merits.
• Key point: Sending exceptions to another Authority office did not satisfy the deadline for filing them in the Docket Room.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v49 p567 ]
49:0567(51)AR

The decision of the Authority follows:

49 FLRA No. 51

FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

PANAMA CANAL COMMISSION

(Agency)

and

MARITIME/METAL TRADES COUNCIL

PANAMA AREA TRADES COUNCIL

(Union)

0-AR-2585

ORDER DISMISSING EXCEPTIONS

March 18, 1994

The Union has filed exceptions to the award of Arbitrator Jason M. Berkman in the above-captioned case. On February 7, 1994, the Authority issued an Order directing the Union to show cause why its exceptions should not be dismissed as untimely filed. The Union filed a timely response to the Authority's Order. For the reasons set out below, the Union's exceptions must be dismissed.

The time limit for filing exceptions to an arbitration award is 30 days beginning on the date the award is served on the filing party. 5 C.F.R.
§ 2425.1(b). The date of service is the date the arbitration award is deposited in the U.S. mail or is delivered in person. 5 C.F.R. § 2429.27(d). Absent evidence to the contrary, the date of the arbitration award is presumed to be the date of service of the award. See Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma and American Federation of Government Employees, Local No. 916, 32 FLRA 165, 167 (1988). If the award is served by mail, 5 days are added to the period for filing exceptions to the award. 5 C.F.R. § 2429.22. The time limit may not be extended or waived by the Authority. 5 C.F.R.
§ 2429.23(d).

All documents filed with the Authority must be filed in the Docket Room of the Authority's Case Control Office, 607 14th Street, NW., Washington, D.C. 20424-0001. 5 C.F.R. § 2429.24(a).

The Arbitrator's award is dated December 15, 1993. Presuming that the award was deposited in the U.S. mail on that date, an exception to the award had to be either postmarked by the U.S. Postal Service or received in person at the Authority no later than January 18, 1994, in order to be considered timely. 5 C.F.R. §§ 2425.1(b), 2429.21(b) and 2429.22.

The Union mailed its exceptions to the Authority's Office of the General Counsel. The General Counsel's Office forwarded the exceptions to the Authority's Case Control Office, which received the exceptions on February 1, 1994. Section 2429.21(b) of the Authority's Regulations provides that "[i]f the filing is by personal delivery, it shall be considered filed on the date it is received by the Authority . . . ." 5 C.F.R. § 2429.21(b). Accordingly, the Union's exceptions were considered filed on February 1, 1994, the date the exceptions were received in the Docket Room of the Authority's Case Control Office.

The Union states in its response that a copy of the award was hand delivered from the Office of Industrial Relations on December 22, 1993. It is unclear from the Union's response whether the copy it received from the Office of Industrial Relations was service of the Arbitrator's award. However, even presuming that the award was served on the Union by personal delivery on December 22, 1993, an exception to the award had to be either postmarked by the U.S. Postal Service or received in person at the Authority's Docket Room no later than January 20, 1994, in order to be considered timely. 5 C.F.R. §§ 2425.1(b), 2429.21(b) and 2429.22.

The Union's exceptions were not filed in the Authority's Docket Room within the prescribed time limit.(*) As the time limit for filing exceptions may not be extended or waived by the Authority, the Union's exceptions are dismissed.

For the Authority.

_________
Alicia N. Columna
Director, Case
Control Office

FOOTNOTES:
(If blank, the decision does not
have footnotes.)

*/
The Union also provided a copy of a
postal service receipt showing the mailing of a document to the Regional Director on January 14, l994. As stated above, all documents filed with the Authority must be filed in the Docket Room. 5 C.F.R. § 2429.23(d).