15:0397(82)AR - Army Electronics Research and Development Command, Fort Monmouth, NJ and NFFE -- 1984 FLRAdec AR

 15 FLRA No. 82
 
 U.S. ARMY ELECTRONICS RESEARCH
 AND DEVELOPMENT COMMAND, FORT
 MONMOUTH, NEW JERSEY
 Activity
 
 and
 
 NATIONAL FEDERATION OF FEDERAL
 EMPLOYEES
 Union
 
                                            Case No. O-AR-763
 
                        ORDER DISMISSING EXCEPTIONS
 
    This case is before the Authority on exceptions to the award of
 Arbitrator Peter Florey 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, it has been determined that the exceptions must be dismissed as
 untimely filed.
 
    The Arbitrator's award is dated February 28, 1984, and appears to
 have been served on the parties by mail on the same day.  Subsequently,
 the Union requested that the Arbitrator reconsider his denial of the
 Union's request for attorney fees and the Agency requested that the
 Arbitrator clarify other aspects of the award.  The Arbitrator responded
 by letter of March 30, 1984, essentially advising the parties that his
 award was final and that he did not deem it necessary to either
 reconsider the denial of attorney fees or to otherwise clarify the
 award.  The Union filed the instant exceptions with the Authority on
 April 30, 1984.
 
    Under section 7122(b) of the Statute, as amended, /1/ and section
 2425.1 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations, as amended, /2/ which
 amendments are applicable to exceptions pending or filed with the
 Authority on or after March 2, 1984, and under sections 2429.21 and
 2429.22 of the Rules and Regulations, which are also applicable to
 computation of the time limit here involved, any exceptions to the
 Arbitrator's award in this case had to be filed with the Authority no
 later than the close of business on April 2, 1984.  Thus, it immediately
 and clearly appears that the exceptions filed by the Union on April 30,
 1984, are untimely.  The Union, however, asserts that the award was not
 final until the Arbitrator denied the Union's request for
 reconsideration on March 30, 1984.
 
    The Authority has held that a post-award request for clarification
 and the mere possibility of modification of the award by the Arbitrator
 does not deprive the award of finality and render the award
 interlocutory.  /3/ Similarly, the post-award requests of the parties in
 this case did not render the Arbitrator's award interlocutory.  The
 Authority has also held in the circumstances of a case in which the
 Arbitrator, in response to a clarification request, modified the award
 in such a way as to give rise to alleged deficiencies, that the filing
 period began with the modification.  /4/ In this case, however, the
 Arbitrator did not modify his award.  Rather, as indicated above, the
 Arbitrator simply advised the parties that his award of February 28,
 1984, was final and denied the Union's request for reconsideration and
 the Agency's request for clarification.
 
    Thus, the time limits for filing exceptions to the award in this case
 began on the date the award was served on the parties, i.e., February
 28, 1984, and expired on April 2, 1984.  Therefore, the exceptions filed
 by the Union on April 30, 1984, are untimely.
 
    Accordingly, the Union's exceptions are hereby dismissed.
 
    For the Authority.
 
    Issued, Washington, D.C., July 27, 1984
                                       Jan K. Bohren
                                       Executive Director/Administrator
 
 
 
 
 
 
 --------------- FOOTNOTES$ ---------------
 
 
    /1/ Section 7122(b) of the Statute was amended by the Civil Service
 Miscellaneous Amendments Act of 1983 (Pub. L. No. 98-224, Sec. 4, 98
 Stat. 47, 48 (1984)) to provide that the 30-day period for filing
 exceptions to an arbitrator's award begins on the date the award is
 served on the filing party.
 
 
    /2/ 49 Fed.Reg. 22623 (1984).
 
 
    /3/ Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and Federal Employees Metal Trades
 Council, AFL-CIO, 5 FLRA No. 28 (1984);  American Federation of
 Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 1612 and U.S. Department of
 Justice, Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners,
 Springfield, Missouri, 6 FLRA 5 (1981).
 
 
    /4/ United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land
 Management, Eugene District Office and National Federation of Federal
 Employees, Local 1911, 6 FLRA 401, 403 n.2 (1981).