Section 15.4

Section 15.4 Arbitration

General Provisions
1. A request for arbitration shall be submitted within the specified time limit for appeal.
2. No grievance may be arbitrated at the National level except when timely notice of appeal is given the Employer in writing by the Union. No grievance may be appealed to arbitration at the Regional level except when timely notice of appeal is given in writing to the appropriate management official at the LR Service Center by the certified representative of the Union in the particular Region. Such representative shall be certified to appeal grievances by the Union to the Employer at the National level.
3. All grievances appealed to arbitration will be placed on the appropriate pending arbitration list(s) in the order in which appealed. The Employer, in consultation with the Union, will be responsible for maintaining appropriate dockets of grievances, as appealed, and for administrative functions necessary to assure efficient scheduling and hearing of cases by arbitrators at all levels.
4. In order to avoid loss of available hearing time, except in National level cases, a sufficient number of back-up cases shall be scheduled in accordance with Article 15.4B2 to be heard in the event of late settlement or withdrawal of grievances before the hearing. In the event that the parties settle a case or either party withdraws a case five (5) or more days prior to the scheduled arbitration date, the backup cases on the appropriate arbitration list shall be scheduled. In the event that either party withdraws a case less than five (5) days prior to the scheduled arbitration date, and the parties are unable to agree on scheduling other cases on that date, the party withdrawing the case shall pay the full costs of the arbitrator for that date. If the parties settle a case less than five (5) days prior to the scheduled arbitration date and are unable to agree to schedule other cases, the parties shall share the costs of the arbitrator for that date. This paragraph shall not apply to National level arbitration cases.
5. Arbitration hearings normally will be held during working hours where practical. Employees whose attendance as witnesses is required at hearings during their regular working hours shall be on Employer time when appearing at the hearing, provided the time spent as a witness is part of the employee's regular working hours. Absent a more permissive local past practice and at no cost to the Employer, the Employer will permit one (1) change of work schedule per case scheduled for arbitration for either the grievant or a witness, provided notice is given to his or her immediate supervisor at least two (2) days prior to the scheduled arbitration hearing.
6. All decisions of an arbitrator will be final and binding. All decisions of arbitrators shall be limited to the terms and provisions of this Agreement, and in no event may the terms and provisions of this Agreement be altered, amended, or modified by an arbitrator. Unless otherwise provided in this Article, all costs, fees and expenses charged by an arbitrator will be shared equally by the parties.
7. The parties agree that, upon receipt of the award, each arbitrator's fees and expenses shall be paid in a prompt and timely manner.
8. All arbitrators on the District Regular Contract/Discipline Panels and the District Expedited Panels and on the National Panel shall serve for the term of this Agreement and shall continue to serve for six (6) months thereafter, unless the parties otherwise mutually agree. [See Letter, page 187]
9. Arbitrators on the National and on the District Regular Contract/Discipline and District Expedited Panels shall be selected by the method agreed upon by the parties at the National Level. The parties shall meet for this purpose within ninety (90) days after signing this Agreement. In the event the parties cannot agree on individuals to serve on these pan- els, or to fill any vacancies, selection shall be made by the alternate striking of names from the appropriate list.
[See Letter, page 190]
Regional Level Arbitration-Regular
1. In each District three (3) separate dockets of cases to be heard in arbitration shall be maintained for the Union by the Employer at the Area level:
1. one for all removal cases and cases involving suspensions for more than 30 days;
2. one for all cases appealed or referred to Expedited Arbitration; and
3. one for all other cases appealed to arbitration at the Regional Level.
2. Regional Arbitration Scheduling
1. Except as otherwise provided in B2b hereunder, all cases will be scheduled from their respective dockets for each District on a first-in, first-out order based on appeal to arbitration date unless the Union and Employer otherwise agree at the Regional level.
2. Grievances involving letters of warning or suspensions that have been timely appealed or referred to Expedited or Regular arbitration, where such discipline is cited in a removal or suspension of more than thirty (30) days timely appealed to Regional arbitration, will be provided priority scheduling on the respective docket to assure that such grievances are heard prior to the grievance regarding the removal or suspension of more than thirty (30) days. In no case shall a grievance regarding the removal or suspension of more than thirty (30) days be heard prior to adjudication of the timely-appealed grievance involving discipline cited in the removal or suspension of more than thirty (30) days. Grievances involving separate elements of discipline cited in a par- ticular removal or suspension of more than thirty (30) days will not be combined for hearing without the mu- tual consent of the parties.
3. The parties agree that all cases will be heard in arbitration within 120 days from the date of the grievance appeal to arbitration. If a grievance is not heard in arbitration within the 120 days, the grievance will be scheduled as the first primary case on the next available arbitration hearing date. If, one (1) year after the effective date of this Agreement, this hearing requirement is not complied with by a particular District Panel(s) for three (3) consecutive Accounting Periods, the parties will meet to jointly select a sufficient number of additional arbitrators for that panel(s) to ensure compliance with this hearing requirement. Such meetings and addition of arbitrators will continue, as jointly agreed to by the parties, until the panel(s) is in compliance with the hearing requirement.
4. The primary case(s) assigned for each arbitration date will be listed on the scheduling letter. Unless mutually agreed otherwise, a maximum of two (2) primary cases from the District Regular Contract and District Regular Discipline dockets and a minimum of six (6) cases from the District Expedited docket will be listed on the respective scheduling letters. In addition every open case from the particular post office where the primary case(s) are located will be scheduled in the event the primary case(s) are resolved or withdrawn; a listing of such cases will be attached to the scheduling letter. If multiple cases exist at the primary location, the cases will be heard in order of appeal date, unless otherwise mutually agreed by the parties. The primary cases will be backed up with three (3) additional cases from the same District and Union geographic area. It is understood that the parties will resolve or arbitrate the cases at this primary location prior to moving to the first back-up location. The parties agree that cases will be heard rather than lose a hearing date. The primary case(s) and the back-up cases will appear in the scheduling letter to the arbitrator and the parties, which will be submitted no later than forty-five (45) days prior to the scheduled hearing date, unless the par- ties at the Area/Regional level agree otherwise in a specific instance.
5. If all cases at the primary location are resolved or withdrawn, the first back-up case shall become the scheduled case. If the first back-up case is resolved or withdrawn, additional back-up cases will consist of any open cases (see Section 4B2a for priority scheduling) at the post office location where the first back-up case is scheduled. The scheduling of these cases at the first back-up location shall go in order of appeal date to arbitration unless otherwise agreed at the Area/Regional level. If all cases at the first back-up location are resolved or withdrawn, the second back-up case shall become the scheduled case. If that case is resolved or withdrawn, any open cases (see Section 4B2a for priority scheduling) at the second back-up location will be scheduled as above, first-in, first-out. If all cases at the second back-up location are resolved or withdrawn, the third back-up case shall become the scheduled case, and the same procedures shall apply for scheduling additional cases at that location.
6. In the event that all back-up locations are exhausted, the location will be determined by the order of appeal date of cases within the same District and Union geographic area and will continue until no arbitration appeals remain either in the original District or union geographic area.
7. If the procedures in B2d through B2f are exhausted, additional locations will be determined by the parties based upon mutual agreement at the Area/Regional level. If no agreement is reached, scheduling of cases will be based upon the order in which cases were appealed to Regional arbitration.
8. The appropriate management official at the LR Service Center will provide to the Union at the National level a list of the pending cases on each docket by District listed in order of first-in, first-out.
9. If more than one hearing on a particular date is scheduled for a particular union geographic area, the union at the Regional level may request, and the Employer will agree to a mutually acceptable scheduling adjustment to another union geographic area.
3. Only discipline cases involving suspensions of 30 days or less and those other disputes as may be mutually determined by the parties shall be appealed or referred to Expedited Arbitration in accordance with Section 4C hereof.
4. Cases appealed or referred to arbitration, which involve removals or suspensions for more than 30 days, shall be scheduled from the appropriate District Regular Discipline docket for hearing at the Regional Level at the earliest possible date in the order in which appealed by the Union or referred.
5. If a written request is submitted by either party at least thirty (30) days prior to the scheduled hearing date for a case(s) appealed to Regional arbitration, the parties will promptly (normally no later than ten (10) calendar days after the request is received by the other party) conduct pre-arbitration discussions regarding the specified case(s).
6. If either party concludes that a case appealed or referred to Regional Arbitration involves an interpretative issue under the National Agreement or some supplement thereto which may be of general application, that party may withdraw the case from arbitration and refer the case to Step 4 of the grievance procedure. The party referring the case to Step 4 shall pay the full costs of the arbitrator for that date unless another scheduled case is heard on that date. The party whose representative maintains that the grievance involves an interpretive issue shall provide the other party a written notice specifying in detail the precise interpretive issue(s) to be decided and that party's contention with regard to the issue. A copy of the notice will be provided to the designated management and union officials at the Area/Regional level.
7. The arbitrators on each District Panel shall be scheduled to hear cases on a rotating system basis, unless otherwise agreed by the parties.
8. Normally, there will be no transcripts of arbitration hearings or filing of post-hearing briefs in cases heard in Regular Re- gional level arbitration, except either party at the National level may request a transcript, and either party at the hearing may request to file a post-hearing brief. However, each party may file a written statement setting forth its understanding of the facts and issues and its argument at the beginning of the hearing and also shall be given an adequate opportunity to present argument at the conclusion of the hearing.
9. The arbitrator in any given case should render an award therein within thirty (30) days of the close of the record in the case.
Regional Level Arbitration Expedited
1. The parties agree to continue the utilization of an expedited arbitration system for disciplinary cases of 30 days suspension or less which do not involve interpretation of this Agreement and for such other cases as the parties may mutually determine. This system may be utilized by agreement of the National Union and the Vice-President, Labor Relations, or designee. In any such case, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service or American Arbitration Association shall immediately notify the designated arbitrator. The designated arbitrator is that member of the District Ex- pedited Panel who, pursuant to a rotation system, is sched- uled for the next arbitration hearing. Immediately upon such notification the designated arbitrator shall arrange a place and date for the hearing promptly but within a period of not more than ten (10) working days. If the designated arbitrator is not available to conduct a hearing within the ten (10) working days, the next panel member in rotation shall be notified until an available arbitrator is obtained.
2. The parties agree that all cases will be heard in arbitration within 120 days from the date of the grievance appeal to arbitration. If a grievance is not heard in arbitration within the 120 days, the grievance will be scheduled as the first case to be heard on the next available arbitration date. If, one (1) year after the effective date of this Agreement, this hearing requirement is not complied with by a particular District Panel(s) for three (3) consecutive Accounting Periods, the parties will meet to jointly select a sufficient number of ad- ditional arbitrators for that panel(s) to ensure compliance with this hearing requirement. Such meetings and addition of arbitrators will continue, as jointly agreed to by the parties, until the panel(s) is in compliance with the hearing requirement.
3. If either party concludes that the issues involved are of such complexity or significance as to warrant reference to the District Regular Contract/Discipline Arbitration Panel(s), that party shall notify the other party of such reference at least twenty-four (24) hours prior to the scheduled time for the expedited arbitration.
4. The hearing shall be conducted in accordance with the following:
1. the hearing shall be informal;
2. no briefs shall be filed or transcripts made;
3. there shall be no formal rules of evidence;
4. the hearing shall normally be completed within one day;
5. if the arbitrator or the parties mutually conclude at the hearing that the issues involved are of such complexity or significance as to warrant reference to the District Regular Contract/Discipline Arbitration Panel, the case shall be referred to that panel. If the arbitrator, or the parties mutually, refer the case to Regular Arbitration, the parties shall share the costs of the arbitrator for that expedited arbitration date; and
6. the arbitrator may issue a bench decision at the hearing but in any event shall render a decision within forty-eight (48) hours after conclusion of the hearing. Such decision shall be based on the record before the arbitrator and may include a brief written explanation of the basis for such conclusion. These decisions will not be cited as a precedent. The arbitrator's decision shall be final and binding. An arbitrator who issues a bench decision shall furnish a written copy of the award to the parties within forty-eight (48) hours of the close of the hearing.
5. No decision by a member of the District Expedited Panel in such a case shall be regarded as a precedent or be cited in any future proceeding, but otherwise will be a final and binding decision.
6. The District Expedited Arbitration Panel shall be developed by the National parties, on a geographic area basis, with the aid of the American Arbitration Association and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. [See Memo, page 191]
National Level Arbitration
1. Only cases involving interpretive issues under this Agreement or supplements thereto of general application will be arbitrated at the National level.
2. A docket of cases appealed to arbitration at the National level shall be maintained for the Union. The arbitrators on the National Panel shall be scheduled to hear cases on a ro- tating system basis, unless otherwise agreed by the parties. Cases on the docket will be scheduled for arbitration in the order in which appealed, unless the Union and Employer otherwise agree, and with the exception of priority scheduling hereinafter defined. The parties agree that in each calendar year the Employer may, at its option, elect priority scheduling to the top of the arbitration docket, of up to two cases from the list of disputes it previously initiated pursuant to Article 15.3D, and the Union may, at its option, elect priority scheduling to the top of the arbitration docket, of up to two cases from all cases other than those initiated by the Employer pursuant to Article 15.3D. The parties recognize their continuing joint responsibility for efficient functioning of the grievance procedure and effective use of arbitration. The Employer will furnish to the Union a copy of a quarterly report containing the following information covering operation of the arbitration procedure at the National level, and for each District docket separately:
1. number of cases appealed to arbitration;
2. number of cases scheduled for hearing;
3. number of cases heard;
4. number of scheduled hearing dates, if any, which were not used;
5. the total number of cases pending but not scheduled at the end of the quarter.

(The preceding Article, Article 15, shall apply to Mail Handler Assistant employees.)