The Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of the State Bar of Michigan will present labor arbitrators Lee Hornberger and Betty Widgeon will discuss “Michigan AFSCME Council 25 v County of Wayne, lv app pdg,” at a Lunch and Learn webinar from noon to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, February 7.
In Michigan AFSCME, the Circuit Court vacated a public sector labor arbitration award that reinstated an employee. In a split decision, the Court of Appeals affirmed the vacatur. An application for leave to appeal is pending. The Supreme Court has ordered oral argument concerning the application. The main issue is whether the Court of Appeals majority decision was correct to apply the Detroit Auto Inter-Ins Exch v Gavin standard to vacate a labor arbitration award.
Hornberger and Widgeon will review the Michigan AFSCME and Gavin cases in light of the U.S. Supreme Court Steelworkers Trilogy, the Sixth Circuit Michigan Family Resources case, and applicable Michigan Supreme Court and Court of Appeals cases concerning court review of labor arbitration awards.
Hornberger is a former chair of the SBM ADR Section, a member of the Professional Resolution Experts of Michigan (PREMi), and a Diplomate Member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals. He has received the ADR Section’s Distinguished Service Award in recognition of significant contributions to the field of dispute resolution and the Bashara Award in recognition of exemplary service to the section and its members.
Widgeon is a former chair of the SBM ADR Section, a member of the Board of Governors of the National Academy of Arbitrators, and a member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals. She has received the ADR Section’s Bashara Award in recognition of exemplary service to the Section and its members and the Hero of ADR award for supporting the ADR Section’s mission or the field of conflict resolution generally by providing exemplary assistance.
Attorney Lisa Timmons will moderate the webinar. Timmons practices probate and estate planning, real estate law, and civil litigation. She is a Michigan-licensed real estate broker, an arbitrator for the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS) and FINRA, and a court-appointed guardian ad litem (GAL) for Wayne County Probate Court. Lisa mediates domestic relations, civil, and probate cases; she is a volunteer discovery mediator for the Oakland County Bar Association; and has mediated Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) disputes for the United States Postal Service for over 20 years. Timmons is also an adjunct law professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law where she teaches legal writing. In 2021, she was honored by Michigan Lawyers Weekly as an “Up & Coming Lawyer,” for making her mark in the legal community and establishing herself as a future leader.
To register for the webinar, visit https://connect.michbar.org/adr/home.
