73 FLRA No. 3                                                                                                                                                                  

 

AMERICAN FEDERATION

OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES

LOCAL 1822

(Union)

 

and

 

UNITED STATES

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

MEMBER SERVICES

(Agency)

 

0‑AR‑5674

(72 FLRA 595 (2021))

 

_____

 

ORDER DISMISSING

MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION

 

May 26, 2022

 

_____

 

Before the Authority:  Ernest DuBester, Chairman, and

Colleen Duffy Kiko and Susan Tsui Grundmann, Members

 

I.             Statement of the Case

 

The Agency moves for reconsideration of the Authority’s decision in AFGE, Local 1822.[1]  Because the Agency filed its motion for reconsideration more than ten days after service of the Authority’s decision, we dismiss the motion as untimely.

 

II.            Background

 

The Authority issued its original decision in this case on December 17, 2021.[2]  When the Authority’s Office of Case Intake and Publication (CIP) sent a copy of the decision to the Agency via certified mail, CIP’s digital postage meter generated an erroneous, misdated postmark of January 14, 2021, on the mailing envelope.  Nevertheless, tracking information from the      United States Postal Service shows that the Agency’s copy of the decision was deposited in the mail no later than December 21, 2021.

 

On January 24, 2022, the Agency filed its motion for reconsideration (reconsideration motion).[3]

 

III.          Analysis and Conclusion:  We dismiss the reconsideration motion as untimely.

 

The Agency asserts that its reconsideration motion is timely because the mailing envelope for the original decision did not display an accurate postmark.[4]  To be timely, a motion for reconsideration must “be filed within ten . . . days after service of the Authority’s decision or order.”[5]  Concerning the service of documents by the Authority, “[w]hen service is by mail, the date of service shall be the day when the matter served is deposited in the United States mail.”[6]

 

Here, the Authority accomplished service by certified mail, which is part of the United States mail.[7]  And, despite the erroneous postmark, tracking information shows that the decision was deposited in the                   United States mail no later than December 21, 2021, because the decision was moving through the mail on that date.[8]  Further, the Agency undoubtedly received the decision because the reconsideration motion includes a copy of the original decision’s mailing envelope with the erroneous postmark.[9]

 

Using December 21, 2021, as the date of service of the Authority’s original decision, the Agency’s January 24, 2022 reconsideration motion was filed outside the ten‑day deadline.[10]  Therefore, we dismiss the reconsideration motion as untimely.[11]

 

IV.          Order

 

We dismiss the motion for reconsideration.