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60 FLRA No. 89
GSA, Northeast And Caribbean Region New York, NY and AFGE, Council 236 (Ilivicky, Arbitrator) 0-AR-3779 (Decided November 30, 2004)
The Authority reviewed the Agency's exceptions, even though they were found to be are interlocutory, because the Agency presented a plausible jurisdictional defect, the resolution of which advanced the ultimate disposition of this case. The Authority found that the Arbitrator's award was moot and set it aside.
The Authority explained that an arbitration matter becomes moot when the parties no longer have a legally cognizable interest in the dispute. Here, the Arbitrator found, and the Union did not dispute, that this matter was not arbitrable if the assistant administrator was acting within the scope of his employment. The court's decision resolved this issue by finding that the assistant administrator was acting within the scope of his employment. Consequently, by the express terms of the Arbitrator's award, this dispute was not arbitrable. Accordingly, the Arbitrator's award was set aside.