American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2142 and Corpus Christi Army Depot (Authority decision, January 6, 1983)

Final FLRA decision. The Authority dismissed arbitration exceptions as untimely. Judicial review of an arbitration order is generally excluded by 5 U.S.C. § 7123(a)(1) unless it involves an unfair labor practice under § 7118. This order does not address an unfair labor practice.

Plain-English summary

AFGE Local 2142 challenged an arbitration award involving Corpus Christi Army Depot. The award was dated November 3, 1982, making December 2 the deadline for filing exceptions. Although the exceptions were postmarked on December 2, the Authority did not receive them until December 6. It dismissed the exceptions because receipt, rather than mailing, controlled the filing date.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Arbitration review under 5 U.S.C. § 7122(a).
• Outcome: Union exceptions dismissed as untimely.
• Key point: A deadline requiring receipt was not met by a timely postmark.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v11 p3 ]

11:0003(2)AR

The decision of the Authority follows:

11 FLRA No. 2

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO, LOCAL 2142
(Union)

and

CORPUS CHRISTI ARMY DEPOT
(Activity)

Cast No. O-AR-475

ORDER DISMISSING EXCEPTIONS

This matter is before the Authority on exceptions to the award of Arbitrator Jerome H. Ross 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, the union's exceptions must be dismissed as untimely.

Under section 7122(b) of the Statute and section 2425.1(b) of the Authority's Rules and Regulations, the time limit for filing an exception to an arbitration award is thirty days beginning on and including the date on the award. Additionally, under section 2429.21 of the Rules and Regulations, any such exception must be received by the Authority before the close of business on the last day of the time limit.

The arbitrator's award in this case, as included in the union's submission, is dated November 3, 1982. Therefore, under the Statute and the Authority's Rules and Regulations, the union's exceptions had to be filed, i.e., received, no later than the close of business on December 2, 1982. However, the exceptions, postmarked December 2, 1982, were not filed with the Authority until December 6, 1982. In that regard, and as provided in section 2429.23(d) of the Rules and Regulations, the time limit for filing exceptions to an arbitration award may not be extended or waived by the Authority.

Accordingly, as the union's exceptions were untimely filed, they are hereby dismissed. For the Authority.

Issued, Washington, D.C., January 6, 1983

James J. Shepard, Executive
Director