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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; In response to Wilkes-Barre Area School District&#8217;s request that a county judge <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/687907/arbiter-orders-reinstatement-of-five-w-b-area-teacher-two-already-furloughed" target="_blank">overturn an arbitrator&#8217;s order</a> to reinstate four fired teachers, the teachers union&#8217;s argument boils down to one point: The judge has no authority in the case.</p><p>It&#8217;s practically the mirror image of the district&#8217;s own argument <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/690547/wb-area-appeals-ruling-to-reinstate-four-fired-teachers" target="_blank">when solicitor Ray Wendolowski filed the initial paperwork Jan. </a><a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/690547/wb-area-appeals-ruling-to-reinstate-four-fired-teachers" target="_blank">26</a>. In his filing, Wendolowski argued the arbitrator had no legal authority to overrule the district&#8217;s decision to fire the four GAR Memorial High School teachers for violation of the district drug and alcohol policy.</p><p>The district contends the four &#8212; Mollie Evans, Jason Lukachinsky, Jill Wujcik and Glenn Zimmerman &#8212; drank alcohol during a dinner at the Frog Pond before they chaperoned a school dance, and that they may have imbibed at the dance, though testimony was conflicting on that point.</p><p>Wendolowski argued the district policy &#8220;clearly states&#8221; the board has final say in enforcement, including termination, and the arbitrator had no legal right to overturn that determination.</p><p>In Tuesday&#8217;s filing, the union countered the matter clearly fell within the teacher contract&#8217;s broad grievance procedures that required both sides to submit to binding arbitration if the teachers decided &#8212; as they did in this case &#8212; not to defend themselves in a hearing before the school board.</p><p>The union argues the judge can only overturn an arbitration ruling if a review passes an &#8220;essence test&#8221; laid out in a 2007 court ruling, which is &#8220;highly circumscribed and extremely deferential to the arbitration award.&#8221;</p><p>Under the essence test, a judge could only overturn the arbitrator&#8217;s ruling by determining the &#8220;underlying dispute&#8221; is not covered by the contract and the arbitrator&#8217;s finding &#8220;indisputably and genuinely is without foundation in, or fails to logically flow from, the collective bargaining agreement.&#8221;</p><p>The union&#8217;s paperwork repeatedly contends the firings were subject to the contract&#8217;s grievance proceedings, which means the arbitrator had legal authority to interpret the contract and deem, as he did, that the firings were unjust.</p><p>&#8220;The arbitrator&#8217;s findings must therefore be accepted by this court, and it is improper for the petitioner school district to request or invite this court to &#8216;re-interpret&#8217;&#8221; the contract or override the arbitrator.</p><p>The union also argues case rulings cited by the district are outdated and have been superseded by more recent cases.</p><p>And the union argues the arbitrator found &#8220;no reliable evidence&#8221; the four teachers had been drinking at the dance, and therefore there was no proof they violated the district policy.</p><p>The paperwork dismisses the district&#8217;s written contention that the arbitrator&#8217;s ruling amounted to condoning misconduct, and counters that the order to reinstate the four was made because the teachers &#8220;were entirely innocent of wrongdoing and had therefore been unjustly terminated.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Wendolowski </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/web1_RayWendolowski-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wendolowski </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Union: Court can’t overturn Wilkes-Barre Area teachers’ reinstatement