City of Richmond v. Service Employees International Union

A city employee was terminated for alleged sexual harassment of a subordinate. The employee denied harassment and challenged his termination as lacking just cause. The dispute was submitted to arbitration, as mandated by the terms of a collective bargaining agreement between the city and the employee’s union. The arbitrator ordered the employee reinstated upon concluding that the sexual harassment charge was time-barred because the collective bargaining agreement required any disciplinary action to be implemented within six months of the city learning of the alleged misconduct, and the city did not act in time.

The city petitioned the court to vacate the award on public policy grounds, and the court did so. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1285.) The court held that the arbitrator violated public policy against sexual harassment in the workplace by relying upon the contractual limitation provision to award reinstatement “on purely procedural grounds” without a determination of whether the employee actually harassed his subordinate.

We reverse the trial court’s order and remand with instructions to confirm the arbitration award. Arbitral finality is the general rule, and the public…