Opinion ID: 1973326
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Procedural Arbitrability

Text: On appeal the City contends that the Union's written request for arbitration was untimely and that the arbitrators erred in finding that the City had consented to an extension of time. We have held that the appropriate standard for reviewing questions of procedural arbitrability is to uphold the arbitrator's interpretation of the procedural provisions of the agreement so long as that interpretation is a rational construction of the contract. Board of School Directors, Maine School Admin. Dist. No. 52 v. Tri-Town Teachers Ass'n, MTA-NEA, 412 A.2d 990, 994 (Me.1980). See also Saco Valley Teachers Ass'n v. Board of Directors, Maine School Admin. Dist. No. 6, 447 A.2d 72, 74 (Me.1982). Article 13(B) of the Agreement outlines the procedure to be used for processing grievances. [3] After the filing of a grievance and a Step 1 hearing, the Union can request and receive a Step 2 hearing with the Mayor. The Mayor's response is due within seven working days of the hearing. If the grievance remains unsettled, Step 3 provides that the Union may, within ten working days after the Mayor's Step 2 response is due, request in writing that the dispute be submitted to arbitration. The lead-in clause of Article 13(B) specifically provides that the applicable time limits may be extended by mutual consent of the parties. See n. 2 above. Blanchette's Step 2 hearing was held on September 9, 1988. By application of the terms of Article 13(B), the Mayor's response was due on September 20 and the Union's written request for arbitration was due on October 4, 1988. The Union did not file its written request for arbitration until October 21, 1988. The Union argued, however, that because it had made its intent to file for arbitration known to the City before the 10-day notice period had expired and because the City acknowledged that oral notice by discussing arbitration and participating in the selection of arbitrators, the City had effectively consented to an extension of time as permitted by the lead-in clause of Article 13(B). After the evidentiary hearing, the arbitrators ruled: It seems clear that the Union's intention of proceeding to arbitration was known to the City before the deadline. Testimony indicates, however, that the discussion was informal  the City Solicitor, appearing as a witness, indicated [that] no conclusive or definitive discussion had taken place; a Union witness testified that proceeding to arbitration (Step 3) had been indicated to Management by the Union and that the discussion had occurred within a day or two after the Mayor's letter of September 13. Giving credence and greater weight to the Union's position that Management was aware of the Union's intention to proceed to Step 3, is the discussion between City and Union officials about the choice of arbitrators and their joint decision to use the Maine Board of Arbitration and Conciliation, an alternative under Article 13, Section B, Subsection b. According to the Agreement, the alternative selected had to be mutually agreed to by the parties. No testimony, evidence, or objections indicate that this provision of the Agreement was not followed. Thus, it must be concluded that the City knew of the Union's intention to proceed to arbitration  discussion between the City and the Union led mutually to the decision to follow the alternative described in Article 13, B. b., in selecting arbitrators at Step 3. It is also noted that the Agreement specifically allows for extension of time limits by mutual consent, as indicated by the emphasized phrase in the opening sentence of Section B.... The Agreement does not state the extension must be in writing. By entering into discussion with the Union and then jointly selecting who should arbitrate the grievance, the City in effect concurred with the Union in waiving the time limits at Step 3, an extension allowed under the Agreement. Thus, the City's objections to arbitrability because of violation of the timeliness provision is not convincingly argued. The panel's analysis is a rational construction of the Agreement. By virtue of the City's actions, the arbitrators concluded that the City had notice of the Union's intent to seek arbitration and on that basis began discussions preliminary to the Step 3 proceeding. The Agreement does not require that an extension of time for requesting arbitration be in writing, nor that consent to an extension of time be in writing. On these facts the arbitrators could rationally conclude that the City had joined the Union in extending the Union's time for formally requesting arbitration pursuant to the agreement. See Tri-Town Teachers Ass'n, 412 A.2d at 994. The City argues that this interpretation of the time-extension provision of the Agreement places it in a no-win situation. If the City refused to discuss arbitration with the Union because of the Union's failure to serve a timely written request, the City contends that it might be charged with violation of the Agreement or with a prohibited practice under Maine labor law. If, on the other hand, the City discussed arbitration despite the Union's failure to make a timely written request for arbitration, then the City could be held to have waived the timeliness argument in later hearings before arbitrators and courts. This argument is at best unconvincing. In the circumstances of the present case, the City had the obligation just as soon as the timeliness issue arose, namely, upon the expiration of the 10-day notice period, to inform the Union that it would assert the time-bar in any upcoming arbitration. Having done so, the City would have effectively preserved its objection to the Union's failure to make a timely arbitration request and the time-bar issue would itself be adjudicated in any later arbitration. Here, however, the City did nothing to preserve the issue. Rather, the City, knowing of the Union's intent to seek arbitration, participated in selecting the arbitrators. The arbitrators' finding, in these circumstances, that the City effectively consented to an extension of time to file the formal arbitration request, is a rational interpretation of the evidence in the context of the underlying Agreement. Nothing more is required for that finding to withstand our review.