ACTION Employees Union, AFSCME Local 2017 and ACTION (Authority decision, September 24, 1984)

Final FLRA decision. This is a final order of the Federal Labor Relations Authority dismissing a negotiability petition as untimely. An aggrieved person may seek judicial review by filing a petition in an appropriate United States court of appeals within 60 days after issuance under 5 U.S.C. § 7123(a). Filing a petition does not stay the Authority's order unless the court orders a stay under 5 U.S.C. § 7123(c).

Plain-English summary

ACTION told AFSCME Local 2017 in a February 7, 1984 letter that several proposals were outside the duty to bargain. The union requested another statement in April, and the agency referred it back to the February allegation. The Authority calculated that the 15 day period for a negotiability petition had ended on February 22. The union filed on June 14, so the Authority dismissed the petition without deciding the proposals' merits.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Negotiability petition deadline under 5 U.S.C. § 7117(c)(2) and 5 C.F.R. § 2424.3.
• Outcome: Petition dismissed as untimely.
• Key point: The later request for another agency statement did not displace the February allegation used to calculate the filing deadline.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v16 p42 ]

16:0042(11)NG

The decision of the Authority follows:

16 FLRA No. 11

ACTION EMPLOYEES UNION,
AFSCME LOCAL 2017
Union

and

ACTION
Agency

Case No. 0-NG-1011

ORDER DISMISSING PETITION FOR REVIEW

This case is before the Authority pursuant to section 7105(a)(2)(E) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute and section 2424.1 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations on a petition for review of negotiability issues filed by the Union. For the reasons indicated below, it has been determined that the Union's petition for review was untimely filed and must be dismissed on that basis.

Under section 7117(c)(2) of the Statute and section 2424.3 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations, the time limit for filing a petition for review of negotiability issues is 15 days after the Agency's allegation that the duty to bargain in good faith does not extend to the matter proposed to be bargained is served on the Union.

It is apparent from the documents submitted with the Union's appeal that by letter dated February 7, 1984, the Agency declared certain of the Union's proposals to be nonnegotiable. By letter dated April 25, 1984, the Union requested a further statement of the Agency's position, which the Agency answered on April 26, 1984, by referring the Union back to its allegation of nonnegotiability dated February 7, 1984. Therefore, under the above-cited provisions of the Statute and the Authority's Rules and Regulations the petition for review had to be filed, i.e., received in the national office of the Authority, no later than the close of business on February 22, 1984. However, the petition for review was not filed until June 14, 1984, and was thus untimely under the Authority's rules of procedure.

Accordingly, as the Union's petition for review was untimely filed, and apart from other considerations, it is hereby dismissed.

For the Authority.

Issued, Washington, D.C., September 24, 1984 Jan K. Bohren Executive Director/Administrator