Section 16.04. Commission action on request for commission-employed arbitrator.

 

(1)   Acquiescence; refund of filing fee. If the request to initiate arbitration is filed by only one party, the arbitrator shall promptly contact the other party to the dispute to inquire as to its acquiescence to arbitration. If that party asserts that the other party has no right to arbitrate the dispute involved, the arbitrator shall so advise the initiating party, shall cause the filing fee to be returned, and shall not act further on the request. The filing fee is refundable only in the event of the other party's non-acquiescence to arbitration; neither the requesting party's withdrawal of the request for arbitration nor the parties' settlement of the underlying dispute is a basis on which the filing fee shall be refunded.

(2)   Designation of arbitrator. If arbitration has been jointly initiated or acquiesced in, the commission shall either designate the arbitrator, or submit to the parties a panel of individuals for their consideration in the selection of an arbitrator or arbitration board chair. Parties' requests for panels or parties' joint requests for designation of particular arbitrators may be considered by the commission but shall not be binding on the commission. Panels of commission-employed arbitrators shall be randomly selected from commissioners and staff members available for service at the time the panel is generated.

(3)   Compensation of commission-employed arbitrators. When acting as a grievance arbitrator, a member of the commission or of its staff shall not receive any compensation from the parties in the performance of that function.

(4)   Arbitrator impartiality. The commission shall designate only competent, impartial and disinterested persons to act as arbitrators or to be included in a panel of arbitrators. Designated commission-employed arbitrators shall recuse themselves from participation in proceedings in which they are or become incapable of rendering an award without evident partiality or the appearance of partiality. Parties have the right to request, on grounds of lack of impartiality, that a commission-employed arbitrator voluntarily recuse himself or herself from participation in a proceeding. The filing of a recusal request does not necessarily require that the arbitrator recuse himself or herself from further participation in the proceeding. Parties dissatisfied with the arbitrator's response to a recusal request have the right to request, on grounds of a lack of impartiality, that the commission remove a commission-employed arbitrator from a proceeding.

(5)   Public nature of awards when issued. After issuance to the parties, grievance awards issued by commission-employed arbitrators shall be available for purchase by the public from the commission's Madison office. Copies may also be made available on the commission website and in other commission publications. Grievance awards shall not be made public where to do so would reveal a party's trade secrets. Requests that an award not be made public on trade secret grounds may be filed with the commission-employed arbitrator but shall be acted upon by the commission.

History: CR 02-037 : cr. Register June 2006 No. 606 , eff. 7-1-06.