ILLICIT DRUG EFFECTS IN LABOR ARBITRATION DECISION-MAKING

Two hundred twenty six arbitration outcomes in alcohol and drug disciplinary cases were investigated to examine illicit drug effects on arbitral decision making. We examined these effects on arbitrators' final decisions and the standards or decision cues that arbitrators use to justify their decisions. We also examined interactions of illicit drugs and standards of proof and looked at decisions in two different time spans to determine if changing societal attitudes about alcohol and drugs might have an effect. In this study, arbitrators were less lenient with illicit drug users than with legal drug users. This finding suggests that an illicit drug effect may exist in other distributive justice scenarios.