Arbitrator's Authority A. The arbitrator shall have no right to amend, modify, nullify, ignore, add to or subtract from the terms and conditions of this Agreement. The arbitrator shall consider and decide only the specific issue(s) submitted in writing by the Employer and the Union, and shall have no authority to make a decision on any other issue not so submitted.
B. The arbitrator shall be without power to make decisions contrary to, or inconsistent with, or modifying or varying in any way the application of laws, rules, or regulations having the force and effect of law. The arbitrator's decision shall be submitted in writing within thirty (30) days following close of the hearing or the submission of briefs by the parties, which ever be later, unless the parties agree to an extension. The decision shall be binding on both the Employer and the Union and shall be based solely on the arbitrator's interpretation or application of the express terms of this Agreement and to the facts of the grievance presented.
C. The fees and expenses for the arbitrator's services and proceedings shall be borne equally by the Employer and the Union provided that each party shall be responsible for compensating its own representatives and witnesses. If either party desires a verbatim record of the proceedings, it may cause such a record to be made, providing it pays for the record. If both parties desire a verbatim record of the proceedings, the cost shall be shared equally.
Expedited Arbitration (a) The Parties may by mutual agreement refer to expedited arbitration any outstanding grievances considered suitable for this process, and shall set dates and locations for hearings of groups of grievances considered suitable for expedited arbitration.
(b) All grievances shall be considered suitable for and resolvable by expedited arbitration except grievances in the nature of:
(1) dismissals;
(2) rejection on probation;
(3) suspensions in excess of twenty (20) workdays;
(4) policy grievances;
(5) grievances requiring substantial interpretation of a provision of the Collective Agreement;
(6) grievances requiring presentation of extrinsic evidence;
(7) grievances where a Party intends to raise a preliminary objection; and
Expedited Arbitration Procedure The expedited procedure shall be used for either grievances involving Articles exclusively applying to temporary workers or, with the mutual agreement of the Employer and Union, for other grievances. For grievances that do not involve Articles exclusively applying to temporary workers, either the Employer or Union may request in writing that the expedited arbitration procedure be used at the time the Parties are scheduling dates with the arbitrator.
(a) The Employer and Union will develop a stipulation of facts and use affidavits and other time-saving methods whenever possible and when mutually agreed upon.
(b) Case presentation will be limited to preliminary opening statements, brief recitation of facts, witness presentation and closing oral argument. No post hearing briefs shall be filed or transcripts made. The hearing will be completed within one (1) business day unless otherwise agreed upon by the Parties.
(c) The hearing shall be conducted by the arbitrator in whatever manner will most expeditiously permit full presentation of the evidence and arguments of the Parties.
(d) The arbitrator may issue, at their discretion, a bench decision at the conclusion of the hearing or may issue a written award no later than seven (7) calendar days from the close of the hearing excluding weekends and holidays.
(e) All decisions shall be final and binding on the Employer and Union. An arbitration award will be non-precedential if mutually agreed upon by the Parties before the hearing starts. The arbitrator’s award shall be based on the record and shall include a brief explanation of the basis for the award.
Authority of Arbitration Board The Arbitration Board shall have the power to settle the terms of the question to be arbitrated.
Step Five – Arbitration 1. In the event the grievance is not referred to arbitration within the time limits prescribed, the grievance shall be considered resolved based upon the Step Four reply.
2. Upon receipt of a request for arbitration, the Township and the Lodge shall, jointly agree to an Arbitrator or request a list of seven (7) impartial labor Arbitrators from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) who have a business or residential address in Ohio and who are members of the National Academy of Arbitrators. Upon receipt of the list of seven (7) arbitrators, the parties shall select an arbitrator. The parties shall use the alternate strike method from the list of seven (7) arbitrators submitted to the parties by the FMCS. The first strike shall be by coin-toss and the parties shall then alternate in this manner until one (1) name remains on the list. The remaining name shall be designated as the Arbitrator to hear the dispute in question. Either party shall have the right to elect to reject the list in its entirety and to request the submission of a new seven (7) member panel, which election may only be exercised once. If the Lodge and Township have not jointly agreed to an arbitrator or neither party has made a request to the FMCS for a list of seven (7) arbitrators within 60 days of the Lodge’s written notice to arbitrate the grievance, the grievance shall be considered resolved and the issue will no longer be subject to the arbitration process. All procedures relative to the hearing shall be in accordance with the rules and regulations of the FMCS. The Arbitrator shall hold the arbitration promptly and issue a decision within a reasonable time thereafter.
3. The Arbitrator shall determine the grievance in accordance with the terms of the Agreement in effect on the date of the incident giving rise to the grievance.
4. The Arbitrator shall not have the authority to add to, subtract from, modify, change or alter any provision of this Agreement. The Arbitrator shall be confined solely to the issues submitted for arbitration. The Arbitrator shall not establish any new or different wage rates not negotiated as part of this Agreement. In cases of discharge or of suspension the Arbitrator shall have the authority to order modification of said discipline for the offense charged. In the event of a monetary award, the Arbitrator shall limit any retroactive settlement to no earlier time than forty-five (45) calendar days prior to the date the grievance was first presented.
5. The question of arbitrability of a grievance may be raised by either party before the arbitration hearing of the grievance, on the grounds that the matter is non-arbitrable or beyond the arbitrator's jurisdiction. The first question to be placed before the Arbitrator will be whether or not alleged grievance is arbitrable. If the Arbitrator determines the grievance is not arbitrable, the Arbitrator shall render no decision on the merits.
6. The decision of the Arbitrator shall be final and binding upon the Lodge, the member and the Township. Any cost involved in obtaining the list of arbitrators shall be equally divided between the Township and the Lodge. All costs directly related to the service of the Arbitrator shall be divided equally between the Township and the Lodge. Expenses, if any, of the witnesses shall be borne by the party calling the witness, except that member witnesses on duty time shall not lose any wages due from the Township. The fees of the court reporter shall be paid by the party asking for one. The fees of the court reporter shall be split equally if both parties desire a court reporter's recording, or request a copy of any transcript. The Township shall not incur any overtime expense as a result of this provision.
Step 4 - Arbitration a. If the Union is dissatisfied with the written decision at Step 2 or if the mediation is not successful, within twenty-five (25) days of the Step 2 meeting, the Union may advance the grievance to arbitration. Only the Union (not an individual Bargaining Unit Faculty member) may process a grievance to arbitration.
b. Within thirty (30) days of notice of proceeding to arbitration, the Union and the College shall select an impartial third party to be Arbitrator. In the event the parties cannot agree on the selection of an impartial third party, they shall request a list of Arbitrators from Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.
c. Within five (5) days of receipt of the list, the parties shall alternately strike names from the list until one name remains. The person whose name remains shall be the Arbitrator.
d. Each party shall bear the expense of preparing and presenting its own case. The costs of the arbitration proceedings, including compensation, fees and expenses of the Arbitrator, and the cost of any hearing transcript, shall be borne equally by the College and the Union. Unless otherwise mutually agreed, each arbitration hearing shall deal with no more than one (1) grievance.
e. Subject to the availability of the Arbitrator selected, arbitration shall begin within thirty (30) days unless a delay is agreed upon by both parties.
f. The Arbitrator shall have no power to add to, subtract from, modify or disregard any of the provisions of this Agreement. The decision of the Arbitrator shall be final and binding on the parties, although each side retains whatever rights it has under state or federal law to challenge the decision and award. The Arbitrator shall have no jurisdiction or authority to issue any award changing, modifying or restricting any action taken by the College on matters committed to the College’s discretion under Article 23, Management Rights, which are not further abridged by other terms of this Agreement. Jurisdiction shall extend solely to claims of violation of specific written provisions of the Agreement and involve only the interpretation and application of the Agreement.
Step Four - Arbitration 1. With respect to all non-disciplinary grievances and disciplinary cases involving the discharge, suspension of three (3) days or more, or the reduction in rank, the OPBA may make a written request that the decision of the underlying grievance be submitted to binding arbitration pursuant to Step Four, hereunder. A written request for appellate arbitration must be submitted to the other party within fourteen (14) calendar days following such party’s receipt of the written decision at Step 3. In the event the decision at Step 3 is not referred to arbitration within the time limits prescribed, the decision of the Trustees or Designee shall be final and binding upon the OPBA, the member and the Township.
2. Upon receipt of a request for appellate arbitration, the Township and the OPBA shall, within fourteen (14) calendar days following the request for arbitration, jointly agree to an arbitrator or request a list of seven (7) impartial arbitrators from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). Upon receipt of the list of seven (7) arbitrators, the parties shall meet to select an arbitrator within fourteen (14) calendar days from the date the list is received. The parties shall use the alternate strike method from the list of seven (7) arbitrators submitted to the parties by the FMCS. The party requesting the arbitration shall be the first (1st) to strike a name and alternate in this manner until one (1) name remains on the list. The remaining name shall be designated as the arbitrator to hear the dispute in question. Either party shall have the right to elect to reject the list in its entirety and to request the submission of a new seven (7) member panel, which election may only be exercised once. All procedures relative to the hearing shall be in accordance with the rules and regulations of the FMCS. The arbitrator shall hold the appellate arbitration promptly and issue a decision within a reasonable time thereafter.
3. The arbitrator shall determine the grievance in accordance with the terms of the Agreement in effect on the date of the incident giving rise to the grievance.
4. The arbitrator shall not have the authority to add to, subtract from, modify, change or alter any provision of this Agreement. The arbitrator shall be confined solely to the issues submitted for arbitration. The arbitrator shall not establish any new or different wage rates not negotiated as part of this Agreement. In cases of discharge, suspension or reduction in rank, the arbitrator shall have the authority to order modification of said discipline for the offense charged. In the event of a monetary award, the arbitrator shall limit any retroactive settlement to no earlier time than forty-five (45) calendar days prior to the date the grievance was presented to the Township in Step One of the Grievance Procedure.
5. The question of arbitrability of a grievance may be raised by either party before the arbitration hearing of the grievance, on the grounds that the matter is non- arbitrable or beyond the arbitrator’s jurisdiction. The first question to be placed before the arbitrator will be whether or not the alleged grievance is arbitrable. If the arbitrator determines the grievance is not arbitrable, the arbitrator shall render no decision on the merits.
6. The decision of the arbitrator shall be final and binding upon the OPBA, the member and the Township. Any cost involved in obtaining the list of arbitrators shall be equally divided between the Township and the OPBA. All costs directly related to the services of the arbitrator shall be paid by the losing party. Expenses, if any, of the witnesses shall be borne by the party calling the witness except that member witnesses on duty time shall not lose any wages due from the Township. The fees of the court reporter shall be paid by the party asking for one. The fees of the court reporter shall be split equally if both parties desire a court reporter’s recording, or request a copy of any transcript. The Township shall not incur any overtime expense as a result of this Step.
Arbitration Board Where the parties agree to a Board of Arbitration, the party referring the grievance to arbitration shall also provide the name of that party’s nominee to the Board of Arbitration. Within ten (10) days thereafter, the other party shall answer by registered mail, indicating the name and address of its nominee to the Board of Arbitration. The selection of the Chair shall be in accordance with the list of arbitrators above.
Authority of the Arbitrator i. It is the intent of both parties to this Collective Agreement that no grievance shall be defeated merely because of a technical error in processing the grievance through the grievance procedure. To this end an arbitrator shall have the power to allow all necessary amendments to the grievance and the power to waive formal procedural irregularities in the processing of a grievance in order to determine the real matter in dispute and to render a decision according to equitable principles and the justice of the case.
ii. The arbitrator shall not have jurisdiction to alter or change the provisions of the Collective Agreement or to substitute new ones.
iii. The provisions of this article do not override the provisions of the B.C.
Scope of Arbitration The Executive expressly understands and agrees that claims subject to arbitration under this section include asserted violations of the Employee Retirement and Income Security Act of 1974; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act; the Older Worker’s Benefit Protection Act; the Americans with Disabilities Act; Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (as amended); the Family and Medical Leave Act; any law prohibiting discrimination, harassment or retaliation in employment; any claim of promissory estoppel or detrimental reliance, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress; or the public policy of any state, or any federal, state or local law.
