Third Circuit Won’t Defer to Arbitrator’s Vacation Leave Award

An arbitration award in a dispute over vacation leave between a union and a hospital was outside the scope of the arbitrator’s authority under the collective bargaining agreement, the Third Circuit said Dec. 30.

Upholding the district court’s decision to vacate the award, the opinion by Judge Thomas L. Ambro illustrated how significantly arbitrators must misstep for courts not to defer to their judgments.

The CBA states that “so far as possible,” a request for vacation leave will be granted, but the “final right” to grant vacation time rests “exclusively” with the hospital.

Hospital employee Carol Konsugar was denied vacation ...