Decision Making in Employment and Labor Arbitration

• Published in: Industrial relations (Berkeley) Vol. 39; no. 4; pp. 671 - 694
• Main Authors: Bingham, Lisa B., Mesch, Debra J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston, USA and Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishers Inc 01.10.2000; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Arbitration; Decision making; Employees; Employment; Labor relations; Nonunion; Regression analysis; Studies; United States > US
• ISSN: 0019-8676; 1468-232X
• DOI: 10.1111/0019-8676.00188

This experimental study examined the labor and employment arbitration decisions of four groups of arbitrators: (1) employment arbitrators who resolve disputes involving nonunion employees, (2) labor arbitrators who arbitrate cases in which an employee is represented by a union, (3) arbitrators in the National Academy of Arbitrators (NAA), and (4) students as a comparison of nonarbitrator decision makers with experienced arbitrators. A 2 ×2 ×4 factorial design was used, crossing arbitrator group with discipline standard and sex of the grievant. Results indicate that employment artibrators reinstate the grievant significantly less frequently than other arbitrators; however, the findings also reveal that all arbitrators make more favorable decisions under a just‐cause standard than under the newer META standard of discipline.