Labor Arbitration Decisions Research Articles

The generalizability of gender bias: Testing the effects of contextual, explicit, and implicit sexism on labor arbitration decisions.

Decades of social-psychological research show that gender bias can result from features of the social context and from individual-level psychological predispositions. Do these sources of bias impact legal decisions, which are frequently made by people subject to factors that have been proposed to reduce bias (training and accountability)? To answer the question, we examined the potential for 3 major social-psychological theories of gender bias (role-congruity theory, ambivalent sexism, and implicit bias) to predict outcomes of labor arbitration decisions. In the first study, undergraduate students and professional arbitrators made decisions about 2 mock arbitration cases in which the gender of the employee-grievants was experimentally manipulated. Student participants' decisions showed the predicted gender bias, whereas the decisions of experienced professionals did not. Individual-level attitudes did not predict the extent of the observed bias and accountability did not attenuate it. In the second study, arbitrators' explicit and implicit gender attitudes were significant predictors of their decisions in published cases. The laboratory and field results suggest that context, expertise, and implicit and explicit attitudes are relevant to legal decision-making, but that laboratory experiments alone may not fully capture the nature of their effect on legal professionals' decisions in real cases.

Supplemental Material for The Generalizability of Gender Bias: Testing the Effects of Contextual, Explicit, and Implicit Sexism on Labor Arbitration Decisions

Supplemental Material for The Generalizability of Gender Bias: Testing the Effects of Contextual, Explicit, and Implicit Sexism on Labor Arbitration Decisions

The Generalizability of Gender Bias: Testing the Effects of Contextual, Explicit, and Implicit Sexism on Labor Arbitration Decisions

Decades of social-psychological research show that gender bias can result from features of the social context and from individual-level psychological predispositions. Do these sources of bias impact legal decisions, which are frequently made by people subject to factors that have been proposed to reduce bias (training and accountability)? To answer the question, we examined the potential for three major social-psychological theories of gender bias (role-congruity theory, ambivalent sexism, and implicit bias) to predict outcomes of labor arbitration decisions. In the first study, undergraduate students and professional arbitrators made decisions about two mock arbitration cases in which the gender of the employee-grievants was experimentally manipulated. Student participants' decisions showed the predicted gender bias, whereas the decisions of experienced professionals did not. Individual-level attitudes did not predict the extent of the observed bias and accountability did not attenuate it. In the second study, arbitrators’ explicit and implicit gender attitudes were significant predictors of their decisions in published cases. The laboratory and field results suggest that context, expertise, and implicit and explicit attitudes are relevant to legal decision-making, but that laboratory experiments alone may not fully capture the nature of their effect on legal professionals’ decisions in real cases.

The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Steelworkers Trilogy: Some Reflections on Judicial Review of Labor Arbitration Decisions - Will Gold Turn to Rust?

In 1960, in the landmark Steelworkers Trilogy, the United States Supreme Court enthusiastically endorsed arbitration of grievances in private sector labor management relations. As a means of efficient and effective dispute resolution, labor arbitration was perceived as far superior to external litigation in court; labor arbitration was, and is, quicker and less expensive than most litigation. Over the course of the past half-century, the Supreme Court has reiterated and reaffirmed the classic benchmark principles of judicial deference to labor arbitration that the Court unequivocally elucidated in the Trilogy. With increasing frequency, however, some activist judges on the lower federal courts are seemingly predisposed to vacate labor arbitration decisions simply because the judge does not like the particular substantive result of the particular labor arbitration decision. This propensity of some of the lower federal courts to set aside labor arbitration decisions reached its zenith (or nadir, depending on one’s perspective) in the Sixth Circuit in 2006. This essay examines the Sixth Circuit experience with some particularity, analyzing what that Circuit’s pre and post 2006 practical experience and jurisprudence may auger for the future of labor arbitration, and of Alternative Dispute Resolution more broadly, in this 50th anniversary year of the Steelworkers Trilogy.

Protecting the Rights of Alleged Sexual Harassment Perpetrators: Guidance from the Decisions of Labor Arbitrators

Recent evidence indicates that sexual harassment in the workplace continues to pose a problem for organizations. Using published arbitration awards, the current study examines the critical issues involved in discipline decisions of alleged sexual harassment perpetrators. Content analysis of 92 cases enabled the examination of critical judgment factors considered by arbitrators examining the disciplinary penalties imposed by management. Elements of the arbitrator's judgment including the just cause standards, mitigating circumstances, severity of harassment, and length of harassment were examined. The results of the analyses are discussed with an emphasis on the lessons provided for effective management practices.

Introduction: The Evolving Nature of the Employment Relationship: Growing Concerns in Management Practice, Law, and Policy

This is the second of two special issues of Employee Responsibilities and Right Journal that focuses on the evolving nature of the employment relationship. Our initial call for papers yielded a tremendous response of high-quality manuscripts that warranted a second issue to further delve into some of the many ways the employment relationship is being redefined. The papers were assigned randomly to each issue and while they deal with diverse subject areas, all are insightful and provocative in their presentations of cutting-edge issues that challenge practitioners. Each paper will challenge readers to think about the issues raised within as well as the implications the issues have for how we manage and think about employment. The first paper, “Unfair Dismissal in Turkish Employment Law,” by Bakirci takes a cross-cultural look at the nature of arbitrary dismissal under employment at will. Until recently, Turkey has followed a practice somewhat analogous to the employment-at-will doctrine used in the United States. However, pressures to provide additional safeguards for employees have been introduced as Turkey attempts to develop policies more consistent with those of the European Union. The process has not been an easy one as multiple acts have been introduced, passed, and repealed. This paper looks at the process by which Turkey has attempted to alter long-held traditions in employment and social policy as well as the challenges and controversies associated with such action. Questions remain relative to whether there is true support for and conviction toward these practices and policies and what will happen in actual practice once the new law is fully implemented. The second paper, “Protecting the Rights of Alleged Sexual Harassment Perpetrators: Guidance From the Decisions of Labor Arbitrators,” by Lucero, Middleton, and Valentine addresses an issue that has been at the forefront of employment law for nearly a generation and does not promise to go away anytime soon. Much of what has been written about sexual harassment has focused on analyzing how the courts have constructed sexual harassment relative to Title VII as well as how employers should investigate allegations of harassment as well as prevent such behavior from happening in the first place. This paper, however, takes the too-frequently ignored or forgotten perspective on sexual harassment and reminds us that alleged sexual harassment perpetrators have rights as well. The doctrine of “innocent

Social Structure and Law: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives.

PART ONE: THEORIES OF LAW AND SOCIETY In Search of a Macrosocio-Legal Theory A Social-Structural Model PART TWO: COMPONENTS OF THE SOCIAL-STRUCTURE MODEL Value Conflicts in the Law of Evidence Dimensions of Legal Norms A Role Analysis of Legal Personnel Administrative Law and Organizational Theory Organizations and the Limits of Effective Legal Action PART THREE: INTERINSTITUTIONAL AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS Public and Private Legal Systems An Analysis of Labor Arbitration Decisions Legal Indicators and Comparative Law Analyzing Indicators of Legal Systems Human Rights Laws Measurement of Compliance PART FOUR: SYSTEMS THEORY AND THE EXPERIMENTING SOCIETY Human Rights, the Nation-State and Transnational Law Toward a Systems Model of Law and Sociology Law and the Experimenting Society

Modeling labor arbitration decisions: factors used in medically-based grievances.

The policies of arbitrators deciding cases which involved health-impaired grievants were statistically captured. 144 published medically-based arbitration cases were used and 10 factors commonly associated with such cases were analyzed. An employee's work record and seniority had the most effect on the outcome of the case.

Value Judgments in the Decisions of Labor Arbitrators

Value Judgments in the Decisions of Labor Arbitrators

Value Judgments in the Decisions of Labor Arbitrators]: Reply

Value Judgments in the Decisions of Labor Arbitrators]: Reply

Value Judgments in the Decisions of Labor Arbitrators

Value Judgments in the Decisions of Labor Arbitrators

Value Judgments in the Decisions of Labor Arbitrators

Discusses the influence of values or predilections on the decisions of labor arbitrators. Discussion of the arbitrator's image; Association between power and legal right; Faith limitations that arbitrators have placed upon management's authority to subcontract. (Abstract copyright EBSCO.)

Value Judgements in the Decisions of Labor Arbitrators

Value Judgements in the Decisions of Labor Arbitrators