American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1662 and Department of the Army, Fort Huachuca, Arizona (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 Army disapproved provisions in a Fort Huachuca local agreement during agency head review. The union petitioned the Authority for a negotiability ruling. Because disapproval was served by mail on March 30, 1983, the petition was due April 19. The union first sent it to a regional office on April 25, and it reached the national office on April 28. The Authority dismissed it as untimely without deciding the provisions' 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: The petition arrived after the filing deadline even at the regional office.

Full text (FLRA public release)

[ v12 p68 ]

12:0068(22)NG

The decision of the Authority follows:

12 FLRA No. 22

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO, LOCAL 1662
(Union)

and

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY,
HEADQUARTERS FORT HUACHUCA,
FORT HUACHUCA, ARIZONA
(Agency)

Case No. O-NG-833

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 242.1 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 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.

The record before the Authority in this case indicates that the parties forwarded a locally executed collective bargaining agreement to the agency head for review and approval pursuant to section 7114(c) of the Statute. During such review, the agency head disapproved certain provisions in the negotiated agreement by letter dated March 30, 1983. 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 time limit here involved, since the agency's allegation of nonnegotiability was served by mail on March 30, 1983, the union's petition for review was due to be filed in the national office of the Authority no later than the close of business on April 19, 1983. However, the union's petition for review, initially incorrectly filed in the Authority's Los Angeles Regional Office on April 25, 1983, was not filed in the national office of the Authority until April 28, 1983. In any event, without passing upon whether a waiver of the requirement for filing in the national office might be warranted, it is clear the union's petition for review was not filed by April 19, 1983, as required. Therefore, the union's petition was untimely filed and must be dismissed on that basis.

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