Veterans Administration Hospital, Perry Point and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 331 (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 331 challenged an arbitration award dated October 15, 1982. Its exceptions were due at the Authority’s national office by November 15 but were first sent to a regional office on December 6 and reached the national office December 9. The Authority found the exceptions late regardless of whether the incorrect office could be excused. It dismissed them without reaching the award.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Arbitration review under 5 U.S.C. § 7122(a).
• Outcome: Union exceptions dismissed as untimely.
• Key point: The exceptions missed the deadline even before the filing-location question mattered.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v11 p4 ]

11:0004(3)AR

The decision of the Authority follows:

11 FLRA No. 3

VETERANS ADMINISTRATION HOSPITAL,
PERRY POINT, MARYLAND
(Activity)

and

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO, LOCAL 331
(Union)

Case No. O-AR-480

ORDER DISMISSING EXCEPTIONS

This matter is before the Authority on exceptions to the award of Arbitrator Rolf Valtin 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 sections 2429.21 and 2429.24(a) and Appendix A of the Rules and Regulations, any such exception must be filed, i.e., received by the national office of the Authority in Washington, D.C., 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 October 15, 1982. Therefore, under the above-cited provisions of the Statute and the Authority's Regulations, the union's exceptions were due in the national office of the Authority in Washington, D.C., before the close of business on November 15, 1982. However, the union's exceptions, initially misfiled with the Authority's Washington Regional Office on December 6, 1982, were not properly filed with the national office until December 9, 1982. Thus, without passing upon whether a waiver of the requirement for filing in the national office might be warranted in the circumstances of this case, it is clear that the union's exceptions were not timely filed by November 15, 1982, as required. 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, and apart from other considerations, they are hereby dismissed. For the Authority. Issued, Washington, D.C., January 6, 1983 James J. Shepard, Executive Director