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Arbitration

Arbitration is the final step in the joint grievance-arbitration procedure established by the NALC and the Postal Service. The parties jointly select panels of impartial third party neutral arbitrators in each region across the country. The parties have agreed in advance that decisions of arbitrators will be final and binding, an extremely important phrase. This means all decisions made by an arbitrator will be the final resolution to the dispute.

Arbitrators come from a variety of backgrounds, including lawyers, economists, and professors. Almost all arbitrators have experience in labor-management relations and dispute resolution. The NALC and the USPS jointly select the arbitrators that decide our cases in order to ensure their neutrality.

Arbitration hearings take place in the city where the grievance arises. In other words, everyone comes to your town for the hearing. Arbitration hearings are conducted similar to a case in a courtroom setting. The arbitrator acts as a judge and runs the hearing. The parties participate through advocates presenting evidence and testimony in the hearing much like lawyers would do in a court case. Arbitration hearings have opening statements, the presentation of evidence, witness testimony, and closing statements for each case. While there are similarities to a courtroom setting in an arbitration hearing, arbitration rules are not as formal as in a court of law.

When the arbitration hearing is over, the arbitrator will review all the information and issue a final and binding decision. Decisions will seldom be made at the hearing, but are expected to be issued approximately 30 days after the arbitrator declares the hearing record closed. Sometimes the parties jointly agree to write briefs as opposed to making closing arguments at the hearing which may delay the closing of the arbitration record.

Not all grievances impassed from Step B are heard in arbitration. The national business agent, a regional administrative assistant, or the assigned NALC arbitration advocate will often resolve grievances pending arbitration with a labor relations representative from the USPS by reaching a pre-arbitration settlement.

The NALC has negotiated an extremely successful and effective grievance procedure. The fact that we will advance grievances with merit all the way to arbitration forces the Postal Service to resolve most grievances at one of the previous steps. Arbitration is also the battleground where we fight out our most difficult and contentious issues.

Overview of the Arbitration Process +

The NALC pursues arbitration in cases where it has failed to resolve disputed issues through the earlier stages of the grievance procedure. Article 15, Section 4 of the National Agreement establishes three types of arbitration panels.

1. Regional Level Arbitration—Expedited:

Expedited arbitration is an arbitration forum where the parties’ representatives present their case in a less formal manner than a regular arbitration hearing. In expedited arbitration, no briefs are filed, no transcripts are made, and the arbitrator has no study days after the hearing. The arbitrator should render a written decision within 48 hours after the hearing. Any decision rendered under the expedited procedure is final and binding, but shall not be regarded as a precedent or be cited in any future proceeding. Cases appealed to arbitration by national business agents are normally heard in expedited arbitration if they involve the following issues:

  • Disciplinary grievances for issues of fourteen (14) day suspensions or less.
  • Requests for medical certification.
  • Restricted sick leave.
  • Individual requests for annual leave, sick leave, advanced sick leave, leave without pay, or court leave.
  • Individual holiday scheduling issues.
  • Article 25, higher level assignments.
  • Employee claims.
  • Employer claims of less than $1000 dollars.
  • Hold-down assignments.

However, just because a grievance pending arbitration involves one of the topics listed above does not mean that it has to be scheduled for expedited arbitration.

Article 15.4.C.2 of the National Agreement clarifies that if either party believes the case should be heard at a more formal hearing because of the fact circumstances surrounding the individual case it is agreed such a change will be allowed, and the case will be heard in regular arbitration. That language from the National Agreement reads as follows:

If either party concludes that the issues involved are of such complexity or significance as to warrant reference to the Regular Arbitration Panel, that party shall notify the other party of such reference at least seven (7) days prior to the scheduled time for the expedited arbitration.

2. Regional Level Arbitration—Regular:

If the grievance that the national business agent appeals to arbitration contains issues not on the expedited list, that grievance will receive a more formal hearing. For example, regular arbitration hearings differ from expedited hearings in that either party may file a post-hearing brief which is similar to a written closing argument. Two other examples are; transcripts of the hearing may be requested by either party at the national level and regional arbitrators have study days after the hearing is concluded where they will review the whole case, including testimony from the hearing, and the citations offered by the parties. The arbitrator for a regular arbitration hearing is required to render a written decision within 30 days of the hearing or within 30 days of receipt of the parties’ written briefs.

Unlike expedited arbitration, regular arbitration decisions can be cited for persuasive value in future grievances within and outside the installation from which they arose.

3. National Level Arbitration:

National level arbitration involves grievances that either the NALC or the USPS at the national level has determined contain “issues of interpretation under the agreement or supplements thereto of general application.” Only the parties at the national level have the authority to determine if a case is interpretive. Such cases are brought by the union under the authority of the NALC national president. Decisions and settlements made in national level cases set precedent for the entire country.

Interest Arbitration

Unlike the other three types of arbitration hearings discussed, interest arbitration is a specialized form of arbitration. Interest arbitration is used to set the terms of a contract when the parties have failed to reach agreement through collective bargaining. The terms of our National Agreement have been set in interest arbitration six times since 1970, when we earned the right to collectively bargain.

Interest arbitration is also used when the parties reach impasse when negotiating their Local Memorandum of Understanding (LMOU) provisions. The rules regarding these provisions are covered under Article 30 of the National Agreement.

Witness Testimony +

During arbitration hearings, NALC advocates may present several witnesses, each having a different role. The NALC advocate will determine who the witnesses will be for the union’s case and the order in which they will be called. However, arbitrators may refuse to hear testimony from one or more witnesses from either side if the testimony is deemed to be irrelevant to the matter at hand or if the testimony is deemed as new evidence or argument.

The grievant is generally the main witness, testifying about his or her contractual rights being violated or answering charges in a disciplinary case. A grievant at an arbitration hearing is the most important witness when it comes to showing the harm caused by management’s actions.

Often, there will be third party witnesses. These are postal employees or other people who witnessed the “who, what, where, when, why, or how” of the dispute but who are not directly involved in the dispute.

The steward or NALC Formal Step A representative may also serve as witnesses confirming how the dispute moved through the earlier steps of the grievance process, the contractual issues involved, or how they discovered relevant facts during their investigation.

Steward Testimony

The NALC arbitration advocate will decide if it is necessary to have you testify before the arbitrator as to what was in your written statement or to explain other documents in the case file. Occasionally your testimony may not be needed, but you should always expect to be called upon to testify in every grievance you prepare. The NALC advocate assigned to the grievance will meet with you and prepare your testimony prior to the day of hearing.

Before you meet with the NALC advocate, you should again familiarize yourself with the grievance file. Your overall knowledge of the file will make it easier to provide testimony on the matter. This also assists the arbitrator in understanding the union’s arguments as the file comes to life through testimony.

As a steward, it is important to understand that witness preparation is critical and serves three distinct purposes:

  • It prepares the witnesses to testify, making them as comfortable as possible before testifying.
  • Helps the advocate develop the details of the case.
  • Provides the advocate an opportunity to evaluate the credibility and competency of the witness to give effective and persuasive testimony.

Understanding how the arbitration process works will help you build better files. Remember, each grievance you process is important and any grievance you prepare for appeal as the Informal or Formal Step A representative could be the one that ends up going to arbitration.