10:0564(99)AR - AFGE Local 1923 and SSA HQ, Bureau and Offices -- 1982 FLRAdec AR

 10 FLRA No. 99
 
 AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
 EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO, LOCAL 1923
 (Union)
 
 and
 
 SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
 HEADQUARTERS, BUREAUS AND OFFICES
 (Activity)
 
                                            Case No. O-AR-446
 
                        ORDER DISMISSING EXCEPTIONS
 
    This case is before the Authority on exceptions to the award of
 Arbitrator Robert C. McCandles filed by the activity 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 activity's
 exceptions must be dismissed as untimely filed.
 
    Under section 7122(b) of the Statute and section 2425.1 of the
 Authority's Rules and Regulations, the time limit for filing an
 exception to an arbitration award is 30 days beginning on and including
 the date of the award.  Additionally, under section 2429.21 of the Rules
 and Regulations, any such exception must be received by the Authority
 before the close of business on the last day of the prescribed time
 limit.
 
    The arbitrator's award in this case, as included in the activity's
 submission, is dated September 10, 1982.  Therefore, under the Statute
 and the Authority's Rules and Regulations, the activity's exceptions
 were due in the national office of the Authority in Washington, D.C.,
 before the close of business on October 12, 1982.  However, the
 activity's exceptions were not filed until October 19, 1982, on which
 date they were filed in the Authority's Washington Regional Office.  The
 Washington Regional Office forwarded the exceptions to the Authority and
 they were received in the national office on October 20, 1982.  Without
 passing on whether a waiver of the requirement for filing in the
 national office might be warranted, it is clear that the activity's
 exceptions were not timely filed by October 12, 1982, as required.  In
 that regard, and as provided in section 2429.23(d) of the Rules and
 Regulations, the time limit for filing exceptions to an arbitration
 award may not be extended or waived by the Authority.
 
    Accordingly, as the activity's exceptions were untimely filed, they
 are hereby dismissed.  For the Authority.  Issued, Washington, D.C.,
 December 3, 1982
                                       James J. Shepard, Executive
                                       Director