Originally from Dispute Resolution Journal

Employers have long regarded employee fighting as a most serious infraction, one that almost automatically merits discharge. Yet the authors' review of 53 discharge cases involving employee fighting found that 66 percent of the arbitrators overturned or modified management's initial decision. This article explains factors that arbitrators consider in their decisions. These factors fall into four general categories: nature and application of work rule; severity of the injuries inflicted; mitigating circumstances; and the investigation conducted and evidence offered.