Department of the Army, Military Ocean Terminal, Sunny Point, Southport, North Carolina and American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1708 (Authority decision, January 31, 1985)

Final FLRA decision. This is a final order dismissing exceptions to an arbitration award as untimely. Court review of an order involving an arbitration award is excluded by 5 U.S.C. § 7123(a)(1) unless the order involves an unfair labor practice under § 7116; this order does not address an unfair labor practice.

Plain-English summary

AFGE Local 1708 challenged an arbitrator's award concerning the Army's Military Ocean Terminal at Sunny Point. The award was dated October 15, 1984, and appeared to have been mailed to the parties that day. The union filed its exceptions on November 23, four days after the November 19 deadline calculated under the governing rules. The Authority dismissed the exceptions as untimely without reaching the award's merits.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Arbitration exception deadline under 5 U.S.C. § 7122(b) and 5 C.F.R. § 2425.1.
• Outcome: The union's exceptions were dismissed as untimely.
• Key point: The Authority enforces the filing deadline for exceptions to arbitration awards.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v17 p4 ]

17:0004(2)AR

The decision of the Authority follows:

17 FLRA No. 2

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY MILITARY
OCEAN TERMINAL, SUNNY POINT
SOUTHPORT, NORTH CAROLINA
Activity

and

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 1708, AFL-CIO
Union

Case No. O-AR-879

ORDER DISMISSING EXCEPTIONS

This case is before the Authority on exceptions to the award of Arbitrator E. H. Rayson 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 exceptions must be dismissed as untimely filed.

On November 23, 1984, the Union filed exceptions to the Arbitrator's award in the instant case. On January 14, 1985, the Authority issued a deficiency letter to the Union advising it that the exceptions were deficient and affording it an opportunity to perfect its appeal. Thereafter, on January 23, 1985, the Union submitted to the Authority a copy of the Arbitrator's award.

The Arbitrator's award is dated October 15, 1984, and appears to have been served on the parties 0y mail the same day.

Under section 7122(b) of the Statute, as amended, /1/ and section 2425.1 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations, as amended, /2/ which amendments are applica0le 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 not later than the close of business on November 19, 1984. However, the exceptions were not filed until November 23, 1984. Therefore, the exceptions were untimely filed.

Accordingly, as the Union's exceptions were untimely filed, they are hereby dismissed. For the Authority. Issued, Washington, D.C., January 31, 1985 Harold D. Kessler Managing Director for Case Processing

--------------- 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).