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Circuit Court of Appeals, 1st Circuit -- court review of labor arbitration is among narrowest known in the law

By Harvey Randall, Esq.

Circuit Court of Appeals, 1st Circuit, -- court review of labor arbitration is among narrowest known in the law
Ramos-Santiago v UPS, ___F.3d___(1st Cir. April 24, 2008)

Source: Adjunct Law Prof Blog; http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/adjunctprofs/
Reproduced with permission. Copyright © 2008, Mitchell H. Rubinstein, Esq., Adjunct Professor of Law, St. Johns Law School and New York Law School, All rights reserved.

Ramos-Santiago provides an excellent primer about just how difficult it is to vacate a labor arbitration decision. In fact, the court stated that a court's review of an arbitrator's decision is "among the narrowest known in the law." The court went on to apply the "manifest disregard for the law" standard to determine if the award should be vacated. Not surprisingly, the court upheld the award.

This was an appeal of a termination where the arbitrator found that the employer had just cause to discharge. The employee claimed that the arbitrator relied on the wrong section of the CBA that justified the award being vacated.

The court also provides a nice summary of the "manifest disregard of the law" standard utilized by many circuits.

Mitchell H. Rubinstein

Full post as published by New York Public Personnel Law on April 30, 2008 (boomark / email).