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Confirming an arbitration award

By Harvey Randall, Esq.

Confirming an arbitration award
Steuben County v CSEA Local 1000, App. Div., 4th Dept., 292 A.D.2d 810

Unhappy with the decision of the arbitrator, Steuben County obtained an order from a State Supreme Court judge vacating the arbitrator's award. The Appellate Division re­versed the lower court's decision, holding that:

1. Steuben County did not meet its "heavy burden of demonstrating that the arbitrator's award is `violative of a strong public policy ... [or] totally irrational or clearly exceeds a specifically enumerated limitation on the arbitrator's power,'" citing Matter of Obot, 224 AD2d 1006;

2. The arbitrator did not exceed the express limitation on his power with respect to sub­tracting from or modifying the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement when he determined the limits of [County's] right to schedule employees for mandatory overtime and on-call duties; and

3. The court has no power to set aside an arbitration award because another construction could be given to the contract provisions and a different conclusion reached.

The Appellate Division found that the arbitrator "was empowered to determine the res judicata effect of a prior related arbitration award and to interpret the collective bargain­ing agreement in light of the parties' past practices and negotiating history." Here, said the court, the language of the collective bargaining agreement "is reasonably susceptible of the arbitrator's interpretation."

The Appellate Division also concluded that "the monetary remedy awarded by the arbitra­tor was compensatory rather than punitive and that it fell within the arbitrator's power to reach a just result."

Full post as published by New York Public Personnel Law on January 31, 2008 (boomark / email).