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Committee hears technical fix to law enforcement grievance arbitration process
Summary
Staff and sponsors told the committee Senate Bill 54-73 would require law enforcement officers to request grievance arbitration consistent with their collective bargaining agreements and remove a statutory limit on arbitrator-term expirations to allow a larger roster.
The Labor & Workplace Standards Committee on March 18 heard Senate Bill 54-73, a technical change intended to clarify grievance arbitration procedures for law enforcement personnel and to remove a limit that can constrain the Public Employment Relations Commission's arbitrator roster.
Ben McCarthy, staff to the committee, said the bill would require law enforcement officers to request grievance arbitration in accordance with the procedures in their collective bargaining agreement and remove a prohibition that no more than three arbitrators' terms may expire in the same year.
"This is a technical fix to make sure that any grievance that is brought forward for law enforcement arbitration is brought forward by a party to the collective bargaining agreement," Candace Bach of the Association of Washington Cities told the committee, calling the bill "a technical fix to make sure that the statute works the way it was intended."
Mike Sellers, executive director of the Public Employment Relations Commission, described the roster problem the bill addresses. Sellers said the commission appoints a roster of nine to 18 arbitrators but the current limit on the number whose terms may expire in a single year can effectively constrain the roster to nine in practice; removing the limit will give the commission flexibility to keep an 18-person roster.
Why it matters: Grievance arbitration is the statutory process for resolving certain disciplinary disputes under collective bargaining. The bill does not alter the core role of arbitration; sponsors and PER Commission staff said the change corrects statutory language that can impair the commission's ability to maintain a full roster of arbitrators.
Committee action: Proponents characterized the bill as technical and broadly supported by cities and the commission; no formal vote was taken at the hearing.
