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35 FLRA NO. 128

                  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY
                       NAVAL AIR STATION
                     CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS
                            (Agency)

                              and

           NATIONAL FEDERATION OF FEDERAL EMPLOYEES
                          (LOCAL 797)
                            (Union)

                           0-AR-1924

                  ORDER DISMISSING EXCEPTIONS

                         May 25, 1990

     The Union has filed exceptions to the award of Arbitrator Raymond
L. Britton in the above-captioned case. The Union's exceptions
are untimely and must be dismissed.

     The time limit for filing exceptions to an arbitration award
is 30 days beginning on the date the award is served on the
filing party. 5 C.F.R. 2425.1(b). The date of service is the date
the arbitration award is deposited in the U.S. mail or is
delivered in person. 5 C.F.R. 2429.27(d). Absent evidence to the
contrary, the date of the arbitration award is presumed to be the
date of service of the award. See Oklahoma City Air Logistics
Center. Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma and American Federation
of Government Employees, Local No. 916, 32 FLRA  165, 167 (1988).
If the award is served by mail, 5 days are added to the period
for filing exceptions to the award. 5 C.F.R. 2429.22. The time
limit may not be extended or waived by the Authority. 5 C.F.R.
2429.23(d). All documents filed with the Authority must be filed
in the Authority's Docket Room, 500 C Street, SW., Washington,
D.C. 20424. 5 C.F.R. 2429.24(a).

     The Arbitrator's award is dated March 17, 1990. Presuming
that the award was deposited in the U.S. mail on that date, an
exception to the award had to be either postmarked by the U.S.
Postal Service or received in person at the Authority's
Docket Room no later than April 23, 1990, in order to be
considered timely filed. 5 C.F.R. 2425.1(b), 2429.21(b) and
2429.22. Even assuming, as the Union asserts, that the award was
deposited in the U.S. mail on March 24, 1990, an exception to the
award had to be either postmarked by the U.S. Postal Service or
received in person at the Authority's Docket Room no later than
April 30, 1990, in order to be considered timely filed.

     Although the Union's exceptions were mailed to the
Authority, the envelope in which the exceptions were mailed has
no postmark. The exceptions were received by the Authority on May
11, 1990. Because there is no postmark date on the envelope
containing the Union's exceptions, it is presumed that the
exceptions were mailed May 6, 1990--5 days prior to receipt by
the Authority. 5 C.F.R. 2429.21(b). See Veterans Administration,
Veterans Administration Medical Center, Muskogee, Oklahoma, 29
FLRA  51 (1987).

     Accordingly, as the Union's exceptions were not filed in the
Authority's Docket Room within the prescribed time limit,  */  the
Union's exceptions are dismissed as untimely filed.

For the Authority.

                              Alicia N. Columna
                              Director, Case Control Office

 

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

 Footnote */ If the Union had sent its exceptions by certified
mail,   the Authority would have given the Union an opportunity
to submit a   postmarked certified mail receipt to show that its
exceptions were   filed timely. See United States Marine Corps,
Marine Corps Base, Camp   Smedley D. Butler, Okinawa, Japan, 29
FLRA  1068, 1068 at n.1 (1987).
 

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