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The arbitrator should determine if the issue raised in a demand for arbitration is subject to arbitration under the terms of the bargaining agreement

The arbitrator should determine if the issue raised in a demand for arbitration is subject to arbitration under the terms of the bargaining agreement
Matter of Town of Cheektowaga v Cheektowaga Police Club, Inc., 2009 NY Slip Op 00842, Decided on February 6, 2009, Appellate Division, Fourth Department

The Cheektowaga Police Club, representing police officers below the rank of lieutenant, filed a demand for arbitration to challenge Cheektowaga?s decision to promote one officer to the rank of lieutenant instead of another officer, based on the other officer's residence outside the Town of Cheektowaga.

Conceding the propriety of arbitrating such a dispute, the only issue before the Appellate Division was whether Police Club?s claim falls within the scope of the parties' collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

The court conclude that the arbitrator should determine such an issue, i.e. whether or not the question it is arbitrable with in the contract arbitration procedure set out in the agreement.

Quoting from Matter of Board of Educ. of Watertown City School Dist. [Watertown Educ. Assn.], 93 NY2d 132, the Appellate Division said, "Where, as here, there is a broad arbitration clause and a reasonable relationship between the subject matter of the dispute and the general subject matter of the parties' [CBA], the court should rule the matter arbitrable, and the arbitrator will then make a more exacting interpretation of the precise scope of the substantive provisions of the [CBA], and whether the subject matter of the dispute fits within them' "

The full decision is posted on the Internet at:
http://www.courts.state.ny.us/reporter/3dseries/2009/2009_00842.htm

Full post as published by New York Public Personnel Law on February 12, 2009 (boomark / email).