Collective Bargaining Agreements - Minnesota

SPECIFICITY REQUIRED FOR ARBITRATION
UNDER COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENTS

The Minnesota Court of Appeals recently decided an interesting question relating to collective bargaining agreements. Certain city employees were on standby duty and were required to report to work in the event of an emergency caused by a leak in a city water or gas line. Employees who lived outside the city limits were not permitted to drive a city-owned vehicle home while on standby duty. Those employees had to drive their own vehicles to the city garage in the event of an emergency to get a city-owned truck before proceeding to the location of the emergency.

The employees were represented by a union. The collective bargaining agreement established a grievance procedure, which included arbitration. The contract language stated that the "Union may...submit [a] grievance to arbitration," but did not specifically address mileage reimbursements for travel from home to work while on standby duty. The contract defined a grievance as a "dispute or disagreement as to the interpretation or application of the terms of this Agreement."

Some employees were denied mileage reimbursement and so submitted a grievance. The city protested that the dispute over mileage was not subject to arbitration since mileage reimbursement was not addressed in the collective bargaining agreement. The arbitrator rejected the city’s argument and awarded a mileage reimbursement to employees who were involved in the dispute.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed the decision. The Court of Appeals, relying on an earlier Minnesota Supreme Court decision, decided that where a collective bargaining agreement is completely silent on an issue, there is no "term" that can be "interpreted or applied" under the agreement. Accordingly, the court held that the unaddressed mileage issue was not a grievance within the meaning of the agreement and was not subject to arbitration.

This case demonstrates that all employers, public or private, should be careful about submitting a dispute to arbitration unless an agreement gives the arbitrator authority to decide the particular issue at hand.

Posted 5/19/99