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28 FLRA NO. 122


SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
MID-AMERICA PROGRAM SERVICE CENTER
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

             Activity

         and

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 1336

             Union

Case No. 0-AR-1378

ORDER DISMISSING EXCEPTIONS

I. Statement of the Case

This matter is before us on exceptions to the award of Arbitrator Preston J. Moore filed by the Union under section 7122(a) of the Federal Service Labor - Management Relations Statute (the Statute) and part 2425 of the Authority's Rules and Regulations.

II. Background and Arbitrator's Award

By an award dated November 12, 1984, the Arbitrator dismissed a grievance on the basis that it had been filed untimely and in an improper manner. The grievance alleged that several employees, including Reginald T. Huey, the Executive Vice - President of the Union, had been improperly denied official time and overtime, and that the denial of overtime to Huey resulted in a suspension of 20 workdays. The Arbitrator dismissed the grievance on grounds of untimeliness. Huey then appealed the Arbitrator's decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The court determined that the Arbitrator erred in finding that the grievance was untimely, and reversed his decision and remanded the case to him for a hearing on the merits. Huey v. Department of Health and Human Services, 782 F.2d 1575 (Fed. Cir. 1986). [PAGE]

On May 14, 1987, the Arbitrator issued his award to which the Union has filed its exceptions. The Arbitrator stated that the issue before him was whether Huey's suspension of 20 workdays was for just cause. He found that Huey was not suspended for just cause. As his award, the Arbitrator directed the Activity to restore to Huey all benefits and money lost because of the 20-workday suspension and to remove any reference to the suspension from the files. The Arbitrator noted that the Union had also requested that certain other employees be granted official time, overtime, or compensatory time. The Arbitrator stated that he was "not going to enter into that forum with the issue being an ancillary matter in this case(,)" and that the evidence presented was insufficient for him to rule on those issues. Award at 7-8.

III. Analysis and Conclusions

We find that we are without jurisdiction to review the Union's exceptions. Section 7122(a) of the Statute provides:

Either party to arbitration under this chapter may file with the Authority an exception to any arbitrator's award pursuant to the arbitration (other than an award relating to a matter described in section 7121(f) of this title).

As relevant to this case, the matters described in section 7121(f) of the Statute include adverse actions under 5 U.S.C. 7512, such as suspensions for more than 14 days.

The Arbitrator's award in this case relates to a matter covered by section 7512, namely, the 20-workday suspension of Huey. Under section 7122(a) of the Statute, exceptions to the award may not be filed with the Authority because the award relates to a matter described in section 7121(f). See, for example, U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC), Dover, New Jersey and National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), Local 1437, 24 FLRA No. 79 (1986) (dismissing exceptions to an arbitrator's award concerning the interpretation and application of a settlement agreement under which the grievant's removal was changed to a suspension of approximately 6 months); American Federation of Government Employees, Local 1857 and Sacramento Air Logistics Center, McClellan Air Force Base, 21 FLRA No. 41 (1986). Consequently, we are without jurisdiction to review the exceptions. [PAGE 2]

IV. Order

The Union's exceptions are dismissed.

Issued, Washington, D.C., September 15, 1987.

Jerry L. Calhoun, Chairman

Henry B. Frazier III, Member

Jean McKee, Member

FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY

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