[Federal Register: September 26, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 187)]
[Notices]
[Page 49213-49214]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr26se01-87]
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MERIT SYSTEMS PROTECTION BOARD
Variation From Normal Procedures--Effects of Attacks on World
Trade Center and Pentagon
AGENCY: Merit Systems Protection Board.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of variations from the Board's normal
case processing procedures as a result of the September 11, 2001,
attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon.
DATES: September 26, 2001.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert E. Taylor, Clerk of the Board,
1615 M Street, NW., Washington, DC 20419; telephone (202) 653-7200;
facsimile (202) 653-7130; e-mail to mspb@mspb.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Merit Systems Protection Board is
providing notice of the variations in its normal case processing
procedures that have been placed into effect as a result of the
September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and
the Pentagon.
The Board's adjudicatory regulations contain numerous time limits
for filing documents in Federal employee appeals of agency personnel
actions and other matters within the Board's jurisdiction. In addition,
MSPB judges issue various orders in the course of an adjudicatory
proceeding that set a time limit for responses by the parties. The
Board's regulations permit four methods of filing and serving
documents--regular mail, commercial overnight delivery, facsimile, and
personal delivery to the appropriate MSPB office. The date of filing by
regular mail is determined by the postmark date. For filing by
commercial overnight delivery, it is the date the document is delivered
to the commercial overnight delivery service. For filing by facsimile,
it is the date recorded on the facsimile transmission. For filing by
personal delivery, it is the date the MSPB office receives the
document.
At the time of the attacks on September 11, 2001, there were
approximately 1,800 cases pending in MSPB regional and field offices
and almost 800 cases pending at the Board's headquarters in Washington
(data as of August 31, 2001). It is reasonable to assume, therefore,
that a number of filings due to a MSPB office on September 11, 2001,
could not be made on that date. An unknown number of filings of new
cases subject to a filing deadline of September 11, 2001, also may have
been affected by the events of that date.
The following circumstances may have affected filings due on
September 11, 2001:
The Board's New York Field Office, located in the vicinity
of the World Trade Center, was evacuated following the attack there and
remains closed until further notice.
The Board's Washington, DC, headquarters office and its
Washington Regional Office in Alexandria, Virginia, closed shortly
after the attack on the Pentagon.
Other MSPB regional and field offices throughout the
country closed early on September 11, 2001.
U.S. post offices closed throughout the country following
the attacks, and many scheduled mail pickups on September 11, 2001,
were not made. Certain scheduled mail pickups on September 12, 2001,
also may not have been made.
Facsimile transmissions to the New York Field Office could
not be received because of communications failures in the area.
Facsimile transmissions to the Board's headquarters may
have been unable to get through because of the overload of telephone
circuits in the Washington, DC, area.
In addition to the effect of the attacks on the ability of parties
to make timely filings that were due on September 11, 2001, MSPB case
files of Federal agencies located in the World Trade Center were
destroyed in the attacks. Case files in the Pentagon may have been
destroyed as well.
Accordingly, the Board has placed into effect the following
variations from its normal case processing procedures:
1. Until further notice, filings due to the New York Field Office
are to be made with the Northeastern Regional Office. The address,
telephone and facsimile numbers, and e-mail address of the Northeastern
Regional Office are: U.S. Customhouse, Room 501, Second & Chestnut
Streets, Philadelphia, PA 19106; telephone (215) 597-9960; facsimile
(215) 597-3456; e-mail to philadelphia@mspb.gov. Questions regarding
cases in the New York Field Office should be directed to the
Northeastern Regional Office.
2. In MSPB regional and field offices, judges will exercise
discretion in accepting filings due on September 11, 2001, that were
made (by any filing method) after that date.
3. At Board headquarters, the Clerk of the Board will exercise
discretion in accepting filings due on September 11, 2001, that were
sent by regular mail and postmarked after that date. Normally, a show
cause order is issued when a late filing is received, but the Clerk of
the Board may accept certain filings, particularly from the New York
City area, without issuing a show cause order.
4. At Board headquarters, the Clerk of the Board will accept as
timely filings
[[Page 49214]]
due on September 11, 2001, that were sent by facsimile if the date
recorded on the facsimile transmission is September 12, 2001.
5. Where MSPB case files of parties located in the World Trade
Center or the Pentagon were destroyed by the attacks, MSPB judges may
grant appropriate continuances until the case files can be
reconstructed or dismiss cases without prejudice to their later
refiling. MSPB offices will also assist the parties in reconstructing
case files.
The Board and its employees throughout the country intend to
accommodate parties to MSPB cases whose ability to pursue those cases
was affected by the attacks on September 11, 2001. Where the variations
from normal case processing procedures set forth above do not cover the
circumstances in an individual case, the individual circumstances will
be considered on a case-by-case basis. The Board and MSPB judges may
waive any Board regulation the application of which is not required by
law.
Dated: September 20, 2001.
Robert E. Taylor,
Clerk of the Board.
[FR Doc. 01-23986 Filed 9-25-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7400-01-M