1. (a) After a charge has been filed, if it appears to the Board that formal proceedings in respect thereto should be instituted, the Board will issue and cause to be served upon the parties a complaint in the name of the Board, stating the alleged unfair labor practices, and containing a notice of hearing before a trial examiner at a place therein fixed and at a time not less than 5 days after the service of the complaint.
2. (b) In the discretion of the Board, upon due notice to the parties, a complaint may be amended, in such manner as the Board may deem proper, at any time before the issuance of a final decision and order if no new cause of action is added after the statute of limitations has run.
3. (c) A complaint, or amended complaint, or any part thereof, may be dismissed by the Board on its own motion or a charge may be withdrawn upon the motion of an interested party, if deemed appropriate by the Board, at any time before the issuance of a final decision and order, upon due notice to the parties.

Notes of Decisions

New Cause of Action

A proposed amendment would have added a new cause of action beyond the 6 week limitations period set forth in section 9(e) of the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Act; to allow the amendment would have been contrary to the PLRA and the Board’s regulation at 34 Pa. Code § 93.14(b). Fraternal Order of Police v. Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, 30 PPER (LRP) P 30.070, March 19, 1999.

The hearing examiner properly denied the petitioner’s motion to amend its original charge of an unfair labor practice to also allege a refusal to bargain over the impact of the establishment of a police advisory commission, where the proposed amendment would add a new cause of action beyond the 6-week limitations period. Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge No. 5 v. Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, 727 A.2d 1187 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1999).

The addition of clauses to a previously filed charge of unfair practices constitutes the adding of a new cause of action such that an amendment must be made prior to the expiration of the statutory limitations period. New Kensington Police Department Bargaining Unit v. City of New Kensington, 29 PPER (LRP) P29,024, 1997.

Where complainant filed timely exceptions to the dismissal of the charge of unfair labor practices, in which complainant sought to amend the charge of unfair labor practices to include a new cause of action under Section 6(1)(c) of the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Act (the Act), the new cause of action in the exceptions was not raised within the applicable limitations period, as required in paragraph (b) of this section, even though the original complaint, which failed to state a charge of unfair labor practices, was within the limitations period of the Act. McAuliffe v. West Norriton Township, 28 PPER (LRP) P28, 114, 1997.