Labor Relations Fundamentals for Community College Districts

A party has every right to object to evidence he/she considers irrelevant, as the arbitrator should not be burdened with a mass of material that has little or no bearing on the issue. But objections made merely for the sake of objecting often have an adverse effect and they may give the arbitrator the impression that one simply fears to have the other side heard. g. The Summary Before the arbitrator closes the hearing, he/she will generally give both sides equal time for a closing statement. This is the occasion to summarize the factual situation and emphasize again the issue and the decision the arbitrator is asked to make. As arbitration is a somewhat informal proceeding, arguments may be permitted to some extent during all phases of the hearing. There may be times, however, when the arbitrator will require parties to concentrate on presenting evidence and put off all arguments until the summary. When you do give your final summary, you should refer to the key evidence in support of your arguments, stay focused on the issues the arbitrator will decide and avoid too much repetition. At times, an arbitrator will permit final arguments to be presented by written brief. h. Post-Hearing Procedure After both sides have had an opportunity to present all of their evidence, the arbitrator declares the hearing closed. Under AAA Rules, he/she has 30 days from that time within which to render the award, unless the collective bargaining agreement or other procedure requires some other time limit. If parties want to file written post-hearing briefs, transcripts of records or other data, time limits will be set and the hearing will remain open until those documents are received. Usually the parties agree at the hearing to the procedure to exchange post-hearing material and submission of any post-hearing briefs to the arbitrator. The parties should not communicate directly with the arbitrator except when both sides are present. Finally, as this will be the last chance to convince the arbitrator, the summary is the time to refute all arguments of the other side.

C RITERIA U SED BY A RBITRATORS IN I NTERPRETING A GREEMENT L ANGUAGE

S ECTION 7

Supervisors should understand some general rules of contract interpretation. For example, it is important for supervisors to know that because a labor agreement has the legal effect of a contract; its provisions will typically “supersede” rules or regulations that are inconsistent with the terms of the agreement. In addition, arbitrators (and other triers of fact) use the following standards when interpreting contract language, and hearing grievances. Management should also follow these standards when addressing grievances. The standards below are adapted loosely from a section of the book, HOW ARBITRATION WORKS by Elkouri and Elkouri, Bureau of National Affairs, Washington,

Labor Relations Fundamentals for Community College Districts © 2019 (c) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 46