National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 1445 and Alabama Air National Guard (Authority decision, May 19, 1983)

Final FLRA decision. The Authority dismissed this negotiability appeal without a merits ruling. An aggrieved person may seek judicial review of a final Authority order in an appropriate United States court of appeals within 60 days after issuance under 5 U.S.C. § 7123(a).

Plain-English summary

The Alabama Air National Guard disapproved provisions of a local agreement and mailed its decision to the union on December 16, 1982. The union argued that its appeal period began when it received the letter on January 4. The Authority held that service occurred when the letter was mailed, making January 10 the petition deadline. The union filed January 14, so the Authority dismissed the petition as untimely without reaching negotiability.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Negotiability petition after agency head review under 5 U.S.C. § 7114(c).
• Outcome: Petition dismissed as untimely; no negotiability ruling.
• Key point: Mail service started the appeal period before the union received the letter.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v12 p64 ]

12:0064(20)NG

The decision of the Authority follows:

12 FLRA No. 20

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF FEDERAL
EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 1445
(Union)

and

ALABAMA AIR NATIONAL GUARD
(Activity)

Case No. O-NG-792

ORDER DISMISSING PETITION FOR REVIEW

This matter is before the Authority pursuant to section 7105(a)(2)(D) and (E) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute and section 2424.1 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations on a petition for review of negotiability issues filed by the union. For the reasons indicated below, the union's petition must be dismissed.

Section 2424.3 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations provides that the time limit for filing a petition for review is 15 days after service of the agency's allegation that the duty to bargain in good faith does not extend to the matter proposed to be bargained.

From the submissions of the parties in the record before the Authority, it appears that the local parties executed a collective bargaining agreement on November 24, 1982, and forwarded the agreement to the agency head for review and approval pursuant to section 7114(c) of the Statute. The agency head disapproved a number of provisions in the agreement by memorandum served on the union by mail on December 16, 1982. The agency's memorandum was received by the union on January 4, 1983, and the union filed the instant petition for review with the Authority on January 14, 1983.

In its statement of position, the agency contends, among other things, that the union's petition should be dismissed as untimely. The union filed a response to the agency's statement in which it argues that the time limit for filing the petition began on the date the union received the agency head's disapproval rather than the date it was mailed, and that the instant petition is therefore timely.

Contrary to the union's argument, the Authority has consistently held in cases such as here involved that the time limit for filing a petition for review begins to run from the day a copy of the agency's disapproval is served on the union. /1/ See, e.g., American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 2 and Department of the Army, U.S. Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command, Harry Diamond Laboratories, 11 FLRA No. 72 (1983); American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 896 and Defense Printing Service, Annapolis, Maryland, 6 FLRA No. 39 (1981), request for reconsideration denied: December 24, 1981. Therefore, under section 2424.3, as well as sections 2429.21 and 2429.22 of the Rules and Regulations, which are also applicable to the computation of the time limit here involved, since the agency's disapproval was served on the union by mail on December 16, 1982, the union's petition for review had to be filed in the national office of the Authority no later than the close of business on January 10, 1983, in order to be considered timely. However, as indicated above, the union's petition for review was not filed until January 14, 1983. Therefore, the union's petition was untimely filed and must be denied on that basis.

Accordingly, as the union's petition for review was untimely filed, and apart from other considerations, the petition is hereby dismissed. For the Authority. Issued, Washington, D.C., May 19, 1983 James J. Shepard, Executive Director

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

/1/ Section 2429.27(d) of the Authority's Rules and Regulations specifically provides that the date of service is the date "the matter served is deposited in the U.S. mail or is delivered in person."