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2016 CBA Tentati ve Agreement Page 22 of 217 s hall be given a reasonable amount of official time to present the grievance. FAA employees who are called as witnesses shall be in a duty status, if otherwise in a duty status, including reasonable travel time. Absent an emergency, the Agency agrees to pro duce witnesses requested by the Union and adjust their schedules to allow them to appear in a duty status. The Parties will exchange lists of potential witnesses to an arbitration hearing fourteen (14) days prior to the scheduled hearing. Each Party shall bear the expense of its own witnesses who are not employed by the FAA. The arbitrator shall submit his/her decision to the Agency advocate and the Union advocate, as soon as possible, but in no event later than thirty (30) calendar days following the close of the record before him/her unless the Parties waive this requirement. The decision of the arbitrator is final and binding. If the Union advocate elects to submit a post hearing brief, the Union's case advocate, if an employee of the FAA, will be granted annual leave or leave without pay unless staffing and workload do not permit. Leave without pay shall not exceed twenty - four (24) hours for this purpose. Section 11. Expedited Arbitration: (1) If the Union at the national level elects to process a disciplin ary/adverse action under this Section, rather than Section 7, it shall, within twenty (20) calendar days following the effective date of the disciplinary/adverse action, notify the Director, Office of Labor and Employee Relations, that it desires the matte r be submitted directly to expedited arbitration. This request will include a completed grievance as described in Section 7. Within seven (7) calendar days after receipt of the request, arbitrators from the regional or national panel, as appropriate, shall be polled for available dates. Unless mutually agreed otherwise, the arbitrator with the first available date shall normally be used. In the event of a tie, an arbitrator shall be selected by alternately striking names until one (1) remains. The arbitrato r shall issue a decision as soon as possible, but no later than twenty - one (21) calendar days after the hearing has been held. The necessity for transcripts or filing of briefs shall be determined on a case - by - case basis. The election of either Party to re quest a transcript and/or file a post - hearing brief shall not delay the time frame for the arbitrator to render his/her decision. (2) In cases other than disciplinary/adverse actions, either Party at the national level may refer a particular grievance to expe dited arbitration in lieu of the normal arbitration process in this Article. The Arbitrator selection process defined in Section 11a shall be used. The hearing shall be conducted as soon as possible and shall be informal in nature. There shall be no brief s, no official transcripts, no formal rules of evidence, and the arbitrator shall issue a decision as soon as possible, but no later than five (5) calendar days after the official closing of the hearing unless otherwise agreed between the Parties. Determin ations as to whether expedited arbitration shall be utilized in cases other than disciplinary/adverse actions shall be based on the facts and circumstances of each case; however, only those grievances where the passage of time would preclude a remedy or re sult in irreparable harm are subject to this expedited procedure. Disagreements as to whether a grievance is appropriate for this expedited procedure shall be referred to the arbitrator for decision. Cases other than disciplinary/adverse action are subject to the grievance process prior to expedited arbitration. Section 12. The arbitrator shall confine himself/herself to the precise issue(s) submitted for

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