Office of Hearings and Appeals, Social Security Administration, Arlington, Virginia and American Federation of Government Employees, Council 215, AFL-CIO (Authority decision, August 16, 1984)

Final FLRA decision. The Authority dismissed exceptions to an arbitrator's interim ruling without prejudice to raising them after a final award. 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

During an arbitration involving the Social Security Administration's Office of Hearings and Appeals, the arbitrator allowed the agency to see his copy of the hearing transcript subject to conditions. AFGE Council 215 filed exceptions to that ruling. The Authority found the ruling was interim because the arbitrator had not yet issued a final award. It found no extraordinary circumstances warranting immediate review, and dismissed the exceptions without prejudice to renewing the arguments after a final award.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Arbitration exceptions and the rule against interlocutory appeals.
• Outcome: Exceptions dismissed without prejudice as premature.
• Key point: An interim ruling on access to a hearing transcript ordinarily cannot be appealed before the arbitrator issues a final award.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v15 p558 ]

15:0558(117)AR

The decision of the Authority follows:

15 FLRA No. 117

OFFICE OF HEARINGS AND APPEALS,
SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION,
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA
Activity

and

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES, COUNCIL 215, AFL-CIO
Union

Case No. O-AR-752

ORDER DISMISSING EXCEPTIONS

This matter is before the Authority at this time on exceptions to the ruling of Arbitrator Robert Bennett Lubic filed by the Union. For the reasons stated below, it has been determined that the Union's exceptions are interlocutory and must be dismissed.

In response to a request by the Agency, which was opposed by the Union, the Arbitrator ruled that the Agency could have access to his copy of the transcript of the arbitration hearing with certain conditions. The Union then filed the instant exceptions to the Arbitrator's ruling.

Section 2429.11 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations provides: "The Authority and the General Counsel ordinarily will not consider interlocutory appeals." That is, the Authority ordinarily will not consider an appeal until a final decision has been rendered on the entire proceeding. See, e.g., U.S. Customs Service and National Treasury Employees Union, 14 FLRA No. 72 (1984).

In this case, it is clear that the Arbitrator has not rendered a final award. Rather, as indicated above, the Arbitrator simply ruled on an interlocutory request by the Agency for access to a copy of the transcript of the hearing. The Union's exceptions are therefore clearly interlocutory and the facts and circumstances presented are not so extraordinary as to warrant Authority review at this time.

Accordingly, since the Union's exceptions are interlocutory and Authority review is not warranted under the circumstances, the exceptions are hereby dismissed. However, the dismissal is without prejudice to the renewal of any of the Union's contentions in exceptions duly filed with the Authority after a final award is rendered by the Arbitrator.

For the Authority.

Issued, Washington, D.C., August 16, 1984
Jan K. Bohren
Executive Director/Administrator