Stead Motors of Walnut Creek v. Automotive MacHinists Lodge No. 1173, International Association of MacHinists and Aerospace Workers

This case involves the narrow but important issue of the kind of public policy that justifies a federal court in overturning an arbitrator’s award. In 1977 Gale Rocks went to work as a mechanic for Stead Motors, a Mercedez-Benz dealership in Walnut Creek, California. On October 12, 1984 Rocks received a written warning that after installing a left rear tire, he had improperly tightened the lug bolts attaching the wheel to the car, with the result that the left rear wheel almost came off while the owner was driving at highway speed in San Francisco. In September of the following year Rocks got into an argument with a shop foreman about the right way of tightening lug bolts after tires were put back on a car. He was subsequently told by the company that he could not disregard directions from the foreman and must mount and tighten the wheels as instructed. On October 14 of the same year, Rocks replaced brake pads on the car of a customer. The customer reported a very heavy vibration in the front of the car as he drove home. An employee from the company checked out the car and found three lug bolts were loose on the right front wheel and four lug bolts on the left front wheel were…