Opinion ID: 1935406
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Is the arbitrator's award reviewable?

Text: The City contends that the contract term governing promotions is void and unenforceable because it is contrary to sec. 62.13(4) (a), Stats. That statute, it contends, vests broad and unrestricted discretion of the chiefs of police and the police and fire commission with respect to appointments and promotions and that the discretion so vested cannot be infringed by provisions of a collective bargaining agreement. However, this issue of whether the contract provision is illegal was submitted to the arbitrator and decided adverse to the City. This court has adopted a hands off attitude toward review of an arbitrator's decision. WERC v. Teamsters Local No. 563, 75 Wis.2d 602, 611, 250 N.W.2d 696 (1977). Thus the threshold issue is whether or not, no matter how erroneous the arbitrator's conclusions may be, the circuit court or this court on this appeal is entitled to set the arbitrator's decision aside and determine the issue de novo. The collective bargaining agreement calls for arbitration of disputes governed by Chapter 298. Sec. 298.10, Stats., lists the grounds for vacating an arbitration award by the circuit court. Section 298.10 (1) (d), Stats., in particular provides that the circuit court must vacate an award where the arbitrators exceeded their powers. An arbitrator exceeds his authority in enforcing an illegal contract. WERC v. Teamsters Local No. 563, supra . Because a contract provision that violates the law is void, a dispute arising out of a violation of that provision is not arbitrable. WERC v. Teamsters Local No. 563, supra at 613. [1, 2] Normally, the task of determining whether a dispute is arbitrable is a task for the court. Local 1226, Rhinelander City Employees, AFSCME, AFL-CIO v. City of Rhinelander, 35 Wis.2d 209, 219, 151 N.W.2d 30 (1967). Here the parties stipulated to submit to the arbitrator the very issue of whether the contract term was illegal and therefore whether the dispute was arbitrable. The parties by express agreement can permit the arbitrator to decide arbitrability. Jt. School Dist. No. 10 v. Jefferson Education Asso., 78 Wis.2d 94, 101-2, 253 N.W.2d 536 (1977). When the parties have submitted the question arbitrarily to the arbitrator, his decision is given very limited review [2] if it clearly appears that the parties intended the arbitrator's determination of arbitrability be final. Jt. School Dist. No. 10 v. Jefferson Education Asso., supra at 102, 110. [3] In this case the contract states that the arbitrator shall have initial authority to determine whether or not the dispute is arbitrable. (Emphasis added.) This language suggests that the question of the arbitrator's jurisdiction will be submitted to the arbitrator, but not for his final and binding determination. Since it does not clearly appear that the arbitrator's decision on the scope of his own jurisdiction is to be final and binding on the parties, the circuit court, though never directly facing this question, properly proceeded to review the arbitrator's determination that the contract was legal and enforceable in light of sec. 62.13, Stats. [4, 5] Although the Association does not argue that the arbitrator's award is not reviewable, the Association does contend that the arbitrator's determination of this issue should be given great weight and should only be rejected if it is unreasonable. In making his determination that the contract was enforceable, the arbitrator adopted an established WERC position that contracts entered into under sec. 111.70, Stats., modify preexisting statutes. The Association invokes the rule adopted by this court that the standard of review for rulings by the WERC is whether that ruling constitutes a rational interpretation of MERA. Beloit Education Asso. v. WERC, 73 Wis.2d 43, 242 N.W.2d 231 (1975); City of Milwaukee v. WERC, 71 Wis.2d 709, 239 N.W.2d 63 (1976). See also: Layton School of Art & Design v. WERC, 82 Wis.2d 324, 340-342, 262 N.W.2d 218 (1978). The rationale for such limited review of rulings by the WERC is that MERA is one of the areas of law requiring expertise. City of Milwaukee v. WERC, supra at 716. [6] This appeal does not challenge a WERC order but an award of an individual WERC arbitrator. Judicial review of arbitration awards is governed by the standards of review, contained in sec. 298.10, Stats., and in the common law. The standards of review of arbitration awards provide that in the circumstances of this case the arbitrator's award is entitled to review de novo by the reviewing court under sec. 298.10(1) (d), Stats. Review de novo accords due consideration to the arbitrator's decision, but the reviewing court is not bound by it. Jt. School Dist. No. 10 v. Jefferson Education Asso., supra at 106-7 n. 10. Review de novo in this case does not conflict with the rationale for the limited review of rulings of the WERC. In the typical case, the application of secs. 111.70-77, Stats., to a particular labor dispute requires the expertise of the Commission, the agency primarily charged with administering it. Here the question does not concern the application of a labor statute but the Commission's power to enforce it in the first instance in the light of another state statute. This issue, the relationship between two state statutes, is within the special competence of the courts rather than the Commission, and therefore this court need not give great weight to the arbitrator's determination of the issue. Having thus determined that the circuit court and this court may review the arbitrator's decision de novo, we can proceed to the merits of the dispute.