54:0504(52)AR - - AFGE Local 2723 & Defense Logistics Agency, Defense Contract Management Command, Sunnyvale, CA - - 1998 FLRAdec AR - - v54 p504

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54 FLRA No. 52

FEDERAL LABOR RELATIONS AUTHORITY

WASHINGTON, D.C.

_____

AMERICAN FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES

LOCAL 2723

(Union)

and

DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY

DEFENSE CONTRACT MANAGEMENT COMMAND

SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA

(Agency)

0-AR-3062

_____

DECISION

June 30, 1998

_____

Before the Authority: Phyllis N. Segal, Chair; Donald S. Wasserman and Dale Cabaniss, Members.

This matter is before the Authority on exceptions to an award of Arbitrator Barry Winograd 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 Regulations. The Agency filed an opposition to the Union's exceptions.

Under section 7122(a) of the Statute, an award is deficient if it is contrary to any law, rule, or regulation; or it is deficient on other grounds similar to those applied by Federal courts in private sector labor-management relations. Upon careful consideration of the entire record in this case, the Authority concludes that the award is not deficient on any of the grounds raised in the exceptions and set forth in section 7122(a).^(*)

Accordingly, the Union's exceptions are denied.

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FOOTNOTES:
(If blank, the decision does not have footnotes.)
 

*/ The Union's claim that the Arbitrator violated 5 U.S.C. § 579 by engaging in an improper ex parte contact with the Agency -- receiving the Agency's prehearing brief -- is unsupported. As it is undisputed that the Union was properly served with a copy of the brief, no ex parte contact occurred. Cf. 5 C.F.R. § 2414.3(b) (defining "ex parte communications" as an oral or written communication concerning which "notice to all parties is not given"). Accordingly, we need not determine whether 5 U.S.C. § 579 applies in arbitration proceedings under the Statute. As no ex parte contact occurred, the Union's claim that the Arbitrator violated 5 C.F.R. part 2414 also is supported. In addition, part 2414 applies to Authority Members, Administrative Law Judges, and other Authority employees; it does not apply to arbitrators. See 5 C.F.R. § 2414.2.

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