Department of the Army, U.S. Army Troop Support Agency and Fort Lee, Virginia and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1178 (Authority decision, June 28, 1984)

Final FLRA decision. The Authority dismissed exceptions to an arbitration award as untimely under 5 U.S.C. § 7122(b). Judicial review under 5 U.S.C. § 7123(a) generally does not extend to an order involving an arbitral award unless the order involves an unfair labor practice under 5 U.S.C. § 7116.

Plain-English summary

AFGE Local 1178 filed exceptions to an arbitration award involving the Army Troop Support Agency and Fort Lee, Virginia. The arbitrator's award was dated September 3, 1983, and appeared to have been mailed to the union that day. Under the applicable filing rules, the exceptions were due October 7, 1983. The union filed them on October 14. The Authority dismissed the exceptions as untimely without considering the award's merits.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Deadline for arbitration exceptions under 5 U.S.C. § 7122(b).
• Outcome: Union exceptions dismissed as untimely.
• Key point: The filing deadline was October 7, 1983, but the exceptions were filed October 14.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v15 p191 ]

15:0191(31)AR

The decision of the Authority follows:

15 FLRA No. 31

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY,
U.S. ARMY TROOP SUPPORT AGENCY
AND FORT LEE, VIRGINIA
Activity

and

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 1178
Union

Case No. O-AR-652

ORDER DISMISSING EXCEPTIONS

This case is before the Authority on exceptions to the award of Arbitrator James C. Oldham filed on behalf of 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, it has been determined that the Union's exceptions must be dismissed as untimely filed.

The Arbitrator's award in this case is dated September 3, 1983, and appears to have been served on the Union by mail on the same day.

Under section 7122(b) of the Statute, as amended, /1/ and section 2425.1(b) of the Authority's Rules and Regulations, as amended, /2/ which amendments are applicable to exceptions pending or filed with the Authority on or after March 2, 1984, and under sections 2429.21 and 2429.22 of the Rules and Regulations, which are also applicable to computation of the time limit here involved, any exceptions to the Arbitrator's award in this case had to be filed with the Authority no later than the close of business on October 7, 1983. However, the Union's exceptions were not filed until October 14, 1983.

Accordingly, as the Union's exceptions were untimely filed, they are hereby dismissed.

For the Authority.

Issued, Washington, D.C., June 28, 1984

Harold D. Kessler, Director
Case Management

--------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------

/1/ Section 7122(b) of the Statute was amended by the Civil Service Miscellaneous Amendments Act of 1983 (Pub. L. No. 98-224, Sec. 4, 98 Stat. 47, 48 (1984)) to provide that the 30-day period for filing exceptions to an arbitrator's award begins on the date the award is served on the filing party.

/2/ 49 Fed.Reg. 22623 (1984)