Cite as: 534 U. S. 1 (2001)
Ginsburg, J., concurring in judgment
ful grievances of the Postal Service's second and third disciplinary actions, i. e., the seven-day suspension ordered on June 7, 1997, see ante, at 4; App. 41-42, 45-46, and the fourteen-day suspension ordered on August 7, 1997, see ante, at 4; App. 38-40.
Gregory asserts that the Postal Service resists arbitration of her second and third grievances on the ground that under the collective-bargaining agreement between the Postal Service and her union, predischarge grievances do not survive a discharge which has been made final. Brief for Respondent 10-12, and n. 5, 26-27. She does not suggest, however, that the union is disarmed from bargaining for postdischarge continuation of grievances through to completion of arbitration.3
Gregory, moreover, elected to resort to the MSPB "[a]t the advice of her then-counsel." Id., at 9. She could have asked her union to challenge her dismissal before an arbitrator.4 Had she and her union opted for arbitration rather than MSPB review of the dismissal, she might have fared better; it appears that a labor arbitrator, in determining the reasonableness of a penalty, would have accorded no weight to prior discipline grieved but not yet resolved by a completed arbitration. See Arbitration Between National Assn. of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO, and USPS, Case No. E94 N-4E-D 96075418, pp. 16-18 (Apr. 19, 1999) (Snow, Arb.), Lodging of Respondent 57-59 (referring to parties' "past practice of giving unresolved grievances no standing in removal hearings," arbitrator granted a continuance
3 At oral argument counsel for the Postal Service sought to "make clear" that "if this Court reverses the decision [of the Federal Circuit]," the Service "would not object to the continuance of [a] grievance." Tr. of Oral Arg. 55.
4 Grievances "may be appealed to . . . arbitration" only "by the certified representative of the Union." 1998-2001 Agreement Between National Association of Letter Carriers, AFL-CIO and U. S. Postal Service, Art. 15, § 4(A)(2).
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