Overview
Amundsen Davis represented a chemical manufacturer in a matter involving the discharge of a union-represented employee. The client's goal was to obtain a decision that would uphold the discharge and its safety and discipline policies, which had not been strictly or consistently enforced for years. We handled all evidence gathering, case and witness preparation. We acted as lead counsel at the arbitration hearing and wrote the post-hearing brief. Despite the tendency of labor arbitrators to mitigate discipline in discharge cases, the arbiter denied the grievance and upheld the discharge. The significant value of this arbitration decision is (1) the company's ability to rely on it as precedent for future discipline issued under those safety/discipline policies which had not been strictly or consistently enforced for years; and, (2) the company's political gains in its collective bargaining relationship with the union.
