Lately, it has come to our attention that certain practitioners are not be fully familiar with proper procedures to follow when requesting extensions of time to file papers under the OCB's Rules of Practice and Procedure. Requests for extensions of time to submit papers on improper practices should be directed to Deputy General Counsel, John Wirenius. Requests for extensions of time to submit papers on representation cases should be directed to Director of Representation, Karine Spencer. On arbitration matters, including Petitions Challenging Arbitrability, requests for extensions of time should be directed to Deputy Chair, Susan Panepento.¹

When making a request for an extension of time, practitioners must confer first with opposing counsel and obtain their position on the request. All requests should be submitted in writing and state your opposing counsel's position. The length of time that will be granted can vary based on the type of case and position of opposing counsel. The parties should not assume that all requests will be granted. In certain instances, where the parties have been advised that no lengthy extension or that no extension will be granted, extensions of time will only be granted upon a showing of extraordinary circumstances.

Second, I take this opportunity to direct your attention to DR 7-110 B. [1200.41], which is applicable to both OCB hearing officers and designated arbitrators.

Effective January 1, 2008, OCB has changed the way it cites decisions rendered by the Board of Collective Bargaining ("BCB") and the Board of Certification ("BOC"). Rather than have separate citations for each Board, and to correspond with generally applicable rules of citation, each year's cases have been organized into a volume, with each subsequent year standing as a separate volume. The format, for the first 2008 decision will be as follows:

For all decisions issued beginning in 2008, each volume will contain both BCB and BOC decisions issued in a given year and the Board deciding the case is identified by the parenthetical. For example: 1 OCB2d 3 (BOC 2008), refers to a representation decision issued by the BOC in 2008. Beginning in 2008, the series of electronic volumes is called "OCB2d" because it is the second series of volumes from the agency and is distinguishable from the decisions issued from 1968 through 2007. Those earlier decisions, as discussed below, have been adapted to the new citation form. The yearly volumes containing older decisions will be cited as:

For cases issued before 2008, each year's BCB and BOC decisions are contained in separate alternating volumes, with odd numbered volumes for the BCB and even numbered volumes for the BOC. To assist in finding the appropriate citation for a case conversion charts may be found here, Citation Conversion Charts. In certification cases, the bargaining unit's certification number will still be derived from the number of the decision, followed by the year. For example, the certifcation number for a bargaining unit certified by the BOC in 1 OCB2d 3 (BOC 2008) is Cert. No. 3-2008.

Finally, for cases issues from 1968 through 2007, we are working on adding the new citation format to each case in our electronic database. However, until this process has been completed, the old citation format is the only format that appears on these cases when you do electronic research and is the only citation you can use to assist you in your research.