How labor arbitration differs from employment arbitration
In a unionized workplace, the collective bargaining agreement typically sets a grievance procedure ending in arbitration before a neutral arbitrator, often selected through the American Arbitration Association, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, or a panel named in the contract. The parties to the arbitration are usually the union and the employer, not the individual worker. The union generally decides whether to take a grievance to arbitration and presents the case. In discipline cases, contracts commonly require just cause, and arbitrators usually examine both whether the misconduct was proven and whether the penalty was proportionate to it.
If the union will not take the case
A union has a duty to represent its members fairly, but it has wide latitude in deciding which grievances to pursue. A member who believes the union handled the grievance in bad faith or with no rational basis may have a claim for breach of the duty of fair representation, and those claims carry a short deadline. For public employees in New York, the Taylor Law and the Public Employment Relations Board govern these questions, and the framework differs from the private sector. Before assuming the union has dropped a grievance, ask for its decision in writing and the reasons.
Preparing for a hearing
Courts give labor arbitration awards strong deference and rarely overturn them, so the hearing is usually the decisive event. For employers, that means assembling the contract, the policy at issue, the investigation file, and witnesses who can testify about what happened and why the penalty was chosen. For unions and members, it means gathering the grievant's work record, comparisons with how other employees were treated, and any procedural lapses. Contract deadlines at each grievance step are often strictly applied, so we check those first.
