After The Labor Arbitration Award: The Public Policy Defenc

The problem of the public policy defense to the enforceability of a labor arbitration award recently has been highlighted by a series of discordant court decisions and by the recent US Supreme Court case of United Paperworkers International Union versus Misco Inc. (1987). Under the approach announced by the Court in Misco, the public policy defense in the context of labor arbitration appears to operate substantially as it does throughout contract law. The Court's formulation of the public policy defense and its general rationale are incompatible with the limitist view in the labor arbitration context. The Restatement of Contracts approach, like all balancing tests, is ill-defined and difficult to apply. Precedent, general principles of contract law, and practical considerations operate against completely exempting actions under Section 301 of the Labor-Management Relations Act to enforce labor arbitration awards from limitations on contractual freedoms imposed by courts in their contexts.