11:0004(3)AR - VA Hospital, Perry Point, MD and AFGE Local 331 -- 1983 FLRAdec AR

 11 FLRA No. 3
 
 VETERANS ADMINISTRATION HOSPITAL,
 PERRY POINT, MARYLAND
 (Activity)
 
 and
 
 AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
 EMPLOYEES, AFL-CIO, LOCAL 331
 (Union)
 
                                            Case No. O-AR-480
 
                        ORDER DISMISSING EXCEPTIONS
 
    This matter is before the Authority on exceptions to the award of
 Arbitrator Rolf Valtin filed by 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, the union's exceptions must be dismissed as untimely.
 
    Under section 7122(b) of the Statute and section 2425.1(b) of the
 Authority's Rules and Regulations, the time limit for filing an
 exception to an arbitration award is thirty days beginning on and
 including the date on the award.  Additionally, under sections 2429.21
 and 2429.24(a) and Appendix A of the Rules and Regulations, any such
 exception must be filed, i.e., received by the national office of the
 Authority in Washington, D.C., before the close of business on the last
 day of the time limit.
 
    The arbitrator's award in this case, as included in the union's
 submission, is dated October 15, 1982.  Therefore, under the above-cited
 provisions of the Statute and the Authority's Regulations, the union's
 exceptions were due in the national office of the Authority in
 Washington, D.C., before the close of business on November 15, 1982.
 However, the union's exceptions, initially misfiled with the Authority's
 Washington Regional Office on December 6, 1982, were not properly filed
 with the national office until December 9, 1982.  Thus, without passing
 upon whether a waiver of the requirement for filing in the national
 office might be warranted in the circumstances of this case, it is clear
 that the union's exceptions were not timely filed by November 15, 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 union's exceptions were untimely filed, and apart
 from other considerations, they are hereby dismissed.  For the
 Authority.  Issued, Washington, D.C., January 6, 1983
                                       James J. Shepard, Executive
                                       Director