The New York Court of Appeals has rejected an effort by the Shenendowa Central School District Board of Education to vacate an arbitration award reinstating a bus driver who failed a drug test. Grievant, a ten year employee, had tested positive for marijuana after a random drug test. The arbitrator concluded that termination was too severe a penalty, and ordered grievant reinstated without back pay, subject to an evaluation by a substance abuse professional and a negative drug test.
The Court initially noted that the parties' cba did not require a penalty of termination in these circumstances, and observed that the District did not have a zero tolerance policy.
The Court also rejected a suggestion that the award violated public policy, concluding:
The ... determination that reinstatement with conditions was the appropriate penalty did not violate public policy (see Eastern Associated Coal Corp. v Mine Workers, 531 US 57 [2000]). "That reasonable minds might disagree over what the proper penalty should have been does not provide a basis for vacating the arbitral award or refashioning the penalty" (City School Dist. of the City of N.Y. v McGraham, 17 NY3d 917, 920 [2011]).
The Court's opinion, In the Matter of the Arbitration between Shenendowa Central School District Board of Education and Civil Service Employees Association, Inc., Local 100 AFSCME, can be found here.
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