Opinion
July 5, 1979.
PRESENT: Bevilacqua, C.J., Joslin, Kelleher, Doris and Weisberger, JJ.
ARBITRATION LABOR RELATIONS. Mistake of Law Not Ground for Vacating Arbitrator's Award. Arbitrator's mistake of law is not ground for vacating arbitrator's award, and thus union's contention that denial of school committee employee's request for paid leave during pregnancy-related illness which occurred subsequent to birth of her child not only violated equal protection but also contravened statutory prohibitions against sex discrimination did not constitute basis for vacating arbitrator's award that employee was to entitled to be paid under collective-bargaining agreement, which gave each teacher up to 90 days annual fully paid sick leave but also stipulated that teacher should not receive any salary during maternity leave. U.S.C.A.Const. Amend. 14; Gen. Laws 1956, §§ 28-5-1 et seq., 28-5-7 (A).
The Superior Court, Kent County, McOsker, J., confirmed arbitration award in favor of school committee, and union appealed. The Supreme Court held that union's contention that denial of employee's request for paid leave during pregnancy-related illness subsequent to birth of her child violated her Fourteenth Amendment guarantee of equal protection and also contravened prohibitions against sex discrimination did not constitute basis for vacating award.
Appeal denied and dismissed, and judgment affirmed.
Richard A. Skolnik, for plaintiff.
Thomas L. McDonald, for respondent.
Marsha Sousa, a member of the Warwick Teachers' Union (the union) and an employee of the school Committee of the City of Warwick (the school committee), missed 13 days of work between February 14 and March 11, 1975. The absence was due to a pregnancy-related illness which occurred subsequent to the birth of her child. While the collective-bargaining agreement gives each teacher up to 90 days of annual fully paid sick leave, it also stipulates that a teacher shall not receive any salary during a maternity leave. The school committee, relying on the maternity-leave proviso, denied the request for paid sick-leave benefits, and the union filed a grievance.
In due course, the issue was submitted to binding arbitration. The arbitrator found for the school committee. The union filed a complaint in Superior Court seeking to vacate the arbitrator's award on the ground that the denial of Marsha's request for paid leave not only violated her fourteenth amendment guarantee of equal protection but also contravened the prohibitions against discrimination on the basis of sex that are found in the State Fair Employment Practices Act, specifically, G.L. 1956 (1968 Reenactment) § 28-5-7 (a), as amended by P.L. 1973, ch. 132, § 1. The trial justice confirmed the award, and the union appealed.
The simple and direct answer to the contentions made by the union can be found in the well-established principle which holds that an arbitrator's mistake of law is not a ground for vacating an arbitrator's award. Jacinto v. Egan, 120 R.I. 907, 911, 391 A.2d 1173, 1178 (1978); Smithfield Education Association v. Smithfield School Committee, 120 R.I. 191, 192, 386 A.2d 1093, 1094 (1978); Belanger v. Matteson, 115 R.I. 332, 345-47, 346 A.2d 124, 132-34 (1975).
The plaintiff's appeal is denied and dismissed, and the judgment appealed from is affirmed.