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Decision‐Making about Workplace Disputes: A Policy‐Capturing Study of Employment Arbitrators, Labor Arbitrators, and Jurors
Author(s) -
KLAAS BRIAN S.,
MAHONY DOUGLAS,
WHEELER HOYT N.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
industrial relations: a journal of economy and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.61
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1468-232X
pISSN - 0019-8676
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-232x.2006.00414.x
Subject(s) - arbitration , statutory law , business , dispute resolution , compliance (psychology) , labor disputes , equal employment opportunity , work (physics) , employment discrimination , labour economics , labor relations , law , political science , economics , psychology , social psychology , commission , mechanical engineering , engineering
Firms are increasingly turning to the controversial practice of employment arbitration to resolve workplace disputes. Yet little is know about how decisions are made by employment arbitrators or how their decisions compare to those made in traditional dispute‐resolution forums. This study uses a policy‐capturing design and hierarchical linear modeling to compare how decisions about termination cases are made by employment arbitrators, labor arbitrators, and jurors. The results indicate significant differences in the overall willingness to uphold termination, with labor arbitrators being the most likely to rule in favor of the employee, followed by jurors, employment arbitrators judging statutory and for‐cause claims, and employment arbitrators judging statutory‐only claims. Significant differences were also observed between categories of decision makers in the weight given to procedural compliance, evidence of discrimination, employee work history, and stress‐inducing personal circumstances.