Originally from Dispute Resolution Journal

Arbitrators are often called upon to interpret labor-management agreements that provide recovery opportunities for chemically dependent employees. The disputes require the neutral to determine when employees are entitled to be offered a course of treatment, how their progress toward rehabilitation is to be evaluated and the extent to which the normal disciplinary sanctions are to be held in abeyance. Arbitrators also must assess the enforceability of "last chance agreements" and the reasonableness of restrictions upon "revolving door syndrome." From arbitrators' efforts to grapple with these issues and resolve conflicts between disciplinary and therapeutic precepts may emerge guidelines for dealing with substance abuse as a disability.