American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 3760 and Social Security Administration (Authority decision, June 7, 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 union challenged the Social Security Administration's disapproval of provisions in a local agreement. The Authority counted the filing deadline from the agency's March 9, 1983 disapproval, which was served by mail, and found that the petition was due March 29. The union filed on April 19. The Authority dismissed the petition as untimely without deciding whether the provisions were negotiable.

Decision snapshot

• Authority: Negotiability appeal under 5 U.S.C. §§ 7105(a)(2)(E) and 7117(c).
• Outcome: Petition dismissed as untimely; no negotiability ruling.
• Key point: A later request for clarification did not restart the filing period after the agency head's disapproval.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v12 p176 ]

12:0176(43)NG

The decision of the Authority follows:

12 FLRA No. 43

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO, LOCAL 3760
(Union)

and

SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
(Agency)

Case No. O-NG-827

ORDER DISMISSING PETITION FOR REVIEW

This matter is before the Federal Labor Relations Authority pursuant to section 7105(a)(2)(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 reason indicated below, the union's petition for review 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. Additionally, pursuant to section 2429.22, when the allegation is served on the union by mail, five days are added to the prescribed period.

The record before the Authority in this case indicates that the parties executed a collective bargaining agreement and forwarded it to the agency head for review and approval pursuant to section 7114(c) of the Statute. By letter dated March 9, 1983, the agency head disapproved a number of provisions in the agreement. On March 21, 1983, the union requested a further statement of the agency's position as to the disputed provisions. On March 30, 1983, the agency answered by referring the union to its earlier disapproval action. On April 19, 1983, the union filed the instant petition for review with the Authority.

While the union's petition was filed within 20 days of the agency's response of March 30, 1983, it is clear that the union's appeal in this case seeks review of the agency's allegation of March 9, 1983, which was made in the course of reviewing the local agreement pursuant to section 7114(c) of the Statute, and served on the union by mail on that date. Therefore, under sections 2424.3 and 2429.22 of the Rules and Regulations, the union's petition for review had to be filed with the Authority no later than the close of business on March 29, 1983. However, as stated above, the union's petition was not filed until April 19, 1983. Therefore, the union's petition was untimely filed and must be dismissed on that basis. See, e.g., 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.

Accordingly, the union's petition for review in this case is hereby dismissed. For the Authority. Issued, Washington, D.C., June 7, 1983 James J. Shepard, Executive Director