AFGE Local 2065 and U.S. Marine Corps (Authority decision, June 23, 1995)

Final FLRA decision. This is a final order of the Federal Labor Relations Authority involving an arbitral award. The arbitration exclusion in 5 U.S.C. § 7123(a)(1) generally limits judicial review of Authority orders involving arbitral awards.

Plain-English summary

An individual filed exceptions to an arbitration award involving AFGE Local 2065 and the Marine Corps. He mailed the exceptions to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, which forwarded them to the Authority. The Authority accepted that he had standing to file, but found the exceptions arrived at its docket room one day after the deadline under the filing rules then in force. Because a forwarded filing counted as personally delivered when the Authority received it, the Authority dismissed the exceptions as untimely without reviewing the award's merits.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Filing rules then in 5 C.F.R. §§ 2425.1(b), 2429.21(b), and 2429.23(d).
• Outcome: Arbitration exceptions dismissed as untimely.
• Key point: Mailing exceptions to a different agency did not make them filed with the Authority before it received them.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v50 p538 ]
50:0538(73)AR

The decision of the Authority follows:

50 FLRA No. 73

FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES

LOCAL 2065

(Union)

and

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY

U.S. MARINE CORPS

(Agency)

0-AR-2732

ORDER DISMISSING EXCEPTIONS

June 23, 1995

Exceptions have been filed by Mr. Ernest J. Wright to the award of Arbitrator Robert W. Foster in the above-captioned case. On May 24, 1995, the Authority directed Mr. Wright to show cause why his exceptions should not be dismissed for: (1) lack of standing to file exceptions; and (2) filing untimely exceptions. In addition, Mr. Wright was ordered to provide necessary information required by the Authority's Regulations. Mr. Wright filed a timely response to the Authority's May 24 Order.(*) For the reasons set out below, the 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). 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).

Included with his response to the Authority, Mr. Wright furnished the envelope, postmarked April 10, l995, in which the award was mailed to him by the Arbitrator. Mr. Wright has established that the date of service of the Arbitrator's award was April 10, 1995. Accordingly, the 30-day period for filing exceptions to the award expired on May 9, l995. 5 C.F.R.
§ 2425.1(b). As the award was served by mail, 5 days are added to the due date for filing exceptions. 5 C.F.R. § 2429.22. That date was May 14, a Sunday, and thus the due date became the close of business on Monday, May 15, l995. 5 C.F.R. § 2429.21.

On May 8, 1995, Mr. Wright mailed his exceptions, addressed to the Director, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). On May 12, 1995, the FMCS received the exceptions and forwarded them to the Authority. On May 16, 1995, the exceptions were received in the Authority's Case Control Office. As the exceptions were forwarded by FMCS to the Authority, the filing is considered a personal delivery. 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 exceptions were considered filed on May 16, 1995, the date the exceptions were received in the Docket Room of the Authority's Case Control Office.

In his response, Mr. Wright states that when he received a telephone call from FMCS on May 12, 1995, informing him that his exceptions would be forwarded to the correct agency, "I presumed that I was within the 30 day time limit. In good faith, I presumed that my exceptions would be forwarded on Friday, May 12, 1995 to the Authority." Response at

1. Mr. Wright concludes by asserting that, "If I had known that the
   Authority would not receive my exceptions until Tuesday, May 16, 1995, I could have postmarked my exceptions on May 12, 1995 in Jacksonville, North Carolina to the Authority or forwarded the document by Federal Express." Response at 1.

The place and method of filing documents with the Authority is set out at subsection (a) of section 2429.24 of the Authority's Regulations. 5 C.F.R.
§ 2429.24(a). Parties filing actions with the Authority are responsible for being knowledgeable of the statutory and regulatory filing requirements. See, American Federation of Government Employees, Local 3438 and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Social Security Administration, Decatur, Alabama, 49 FLRA 1145, 1148-49 (1994).

Mr. Wright'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, Mr. Wright's exceptions are dismissed.

For the Authority.

______
Alicia N. Columna
Director, Case
Control Office

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

*/
Mr. Wright provided: (1) sufficient
documentation to establish that he has standing to file the exceptions in the above-captioned case; and (2) the necessary information required by the Authority's Regulations.