Category: Public Policy Exception

One of the few exceptions to the rule that arbitration is final and bind­ing is known as the “public policy” doctrine. Under the doctrine, if an arbitrator’s award violates a clearly articulated and dominant public pol­icy, a court will refuse to enforce it. When applying the public policy doctrine, courts – from the United States Supreme Court to federal and state courts around the country – have been careful…

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Corporal Brendon Johnson works as a corrections corporal in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. On May 8, 2016, Johnson responded to a call involving a female inmate with a known history of noncompliance. The inmate had flooded her cell by intentionally clogging her toilet and causing it to overflow. Johnson ordered the inmate to come down from her bunk and, after a period of defiance, she complied with Johnson’s directive. Johnson…

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With increasing frequency, employers are lodging public policy challenges to arbitration decisions that reinstate terminated public safety employees. The basic argument in such cases, which often involve terminated police officers, is that there is a public policy exception to the notion that arbitration decisions are final and binding. The exception provides a basis to vacate an arbitration award that violates a “well-defined and dominant” public policy. A recent Minnesota…

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The City of Crystal Lake, Illinois terminated officer Adam Munaretto for failing to reasonably investigate a motorist involved in a rear-end collision for driving under the influence and then allowing the motorist to leave the scene while impaired. After being released by Munaretto with two minor citations, the motorist was almost immediately stopped by another officer for suspicion of driving under the influence. Unlike Munaretto, the second officer administered…

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“Final and binding” arbitration is usually considered to be just that – a final resolution of whatever issue is sent to an arbitrator. As long as the decisions of labor arbitrators “draw their essence” from a collective bargaining agreement and are not the product of fraud, those decisions will be upheld even if a court disagrees with either the factual findings or legal conclusions of the arbitrator. One exception…

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