45 U.S.C. § 159 — Award and judgment thereon; effect of

Page 23 TITLE 45—RAILROADS § 159 give due consideration to the effect of the proposed award upon adequate and safe transportation service to the public and upon the interests of the carrier and em- ployees affected, giving due consideration to the nar- rowing of the areas of disagreement which has been ac- complished in bargaining and mediation. ‘‘(b) The obligations imposed by this joint resolution, upon suit by the Attorney General, shall be enforcible through such orders as may be necessary by any court of the United States having jurisdiction of any of the parties. ‘‘SEC. 8. [Expiration date]. This joint resolution shall expire one hundred and eighty days after the date of its enactment [Aug. 28, 1963], except that it shall remain in effect with respect to the last sentence of section 4 for the period prescribed in that sentence. ‘‘SEC. 9. [Separability]. If any provision of this joint resolution or the application thereof is held invalid, the remainder of this joint resolution and the applica- tion of such provision to other parties or in other cir- cumstances not held invalid shall not be affected there- by.’’ § 158. Agreement to arbitrate; form and contents; signatures and acknowledgment; revocation The agreement to arbitrate— (a) Shall be in writing; (b) Shall stipulate that the arbitration is had under the provisions of this chapter; (c) Shall state whether the board of arbitra- tion is to consist of three or of six members; (d) Shall be signed by the duly accredited rep- resentatives of the carrier or carriers and the employees, parties respectively to the agree- ment to arbitrate, and shall be acknowledged by said parties before a notary public, the clerk of a district court or court of appeals of the United States, or before a member of the Mediation Board, and, when so acknowledged, shall be filed in the office of the Mediation Board; (e) Shall state specifically the questions to be submitted to the said board for decision; and that, in its award or awards, the said board shall confine itself strictly to decisions as to the questions so specifically submitted to it; (f) Shall provide that the questions, or any one or more of them, submitted by the parties to the board of arbitration may be withdrawn from ar- bitration on notice to that effect signed by the duly accredited representatives of all the parties and served on the board of arbitration; (g) Shall stipulate that the signatures of a ma- jority of said board of arbitration affixed to their award shall be competent to constitute a valid and binding award; (h) Shall fix a period from the date of the ap- pointment of the arbitrator or arbitrators nec- essary to complete the board (as provided for in the agreement) within which the said board shall commence its hearings; (i) Shall fix a period from the beginning of the hearings within which the said board shall make and file its award: Provided, That the parties may agree at any time upon an extension of this period; (j) Shall provide for the date from which the award shall become effective and shall fix the period during which the award shall continue in force; (k) Shall provide that the award of the board of arbitration and the evidence of the pro- ceedings before the board relating thereto, when certified under the hands of at least a majority of the arbitrators, shall be filed in the clerk’s of- fice of the district court of the United States for the district wherein the controversy arose or the arbitration was entered into, which district shall be designated in the agreement; and, when so filed, such award and proceedings shall con- stitute the full and complete record of the arbi- tration; (l) Shall provide that the award, when so filed, shall be final and conclusive upon the parties as to the facts determined by said award and as to the merits of the controversy decided; (m) Shall provide that any difference arising as to the meaning, or the application of the pro- visions, of an award made by a board of arbitra- tion shall be referred back for a ruling to the same board, or, by agreement, to a sub- committee of such board; and that such ruling, when acknowledged in the same manner, and filed in the same district court clerk’s office, as the original award, shall be a part of and shall have the same force and effect as such original award; and (n) Shall provide that the respective parties to the award will each faithfully execute the same. The said agreement to arbitrate, when prop- erly signed and acknowledged as herein pro- vided, shall not be revoked by a party to such agreement: Provided, however, That such agree- ment to arbitrate may at any time be revoked and canceled by the written agreement of both parties, signed by their duly accredited rep- resentatives, and (if no board of arbitration has yet been constituted under the agreement) de- livered to the Mediation Board or any member thereof; or, if the board of arbitration has been constituted as provided by this chapter, deliv- ered to such board of arbitration. (May 20, 1926, ch. 347, § 8, 44 Stat. 584; June 21, 1934, ch. 691, § 7, 48 Stat. 1197; June 25, 1948, ch. 646, § 32(a), 62 Stat. 991; May 24, 1949, ch. 139, § 127, 63 Stat. 107.) Editorial Notes CODIFICATION As originally enacted, par. (d) contained a reference to the ‘‘circuit court of appeals’’. Act June 25, 1948, as amended by act May 24, 1949, substituted ‘‘court of ap- peals’’ for ‘‘circuit court of appeals’’. AMENDMENTS 1934—Act June 21, 1934, substituted ‘‘Mediation Board’’ for ‘‘Board of Mediation’’ wherever appearing. § 159. Award and judgment thereon; effect of chapter on individual employee First. Filing of award The award of a board of arbitration, having been acknowledged as herein provided, shall be filed in the clerk’s office of the district court designated in the agreement to arbitrate. Second. Conclusiveness of award; judgment An award acknowledged and filed as herein provided shall be conclusive on the parties as to the merits and facts of the controversy sub- mitted to arbitration, and unless, within ten days after the filing of the award, a petition to impeach the award, on the grounds hereinafter set forth, shall be filed in the clerk’s office of Page 24 TITLE 45—RAILROADS § 159a 1 See References in Text note below. the court in which the award has been filed, the court shall enter judgment on the award, which judgment shall be final and conclusive on the parties. Third. Impeachment of award; grounds Such petition for the impeachment or con- testing of any award so filed shall be enter- tained by the court only on one or more of the following grounds: (a) That the award plainly does not conform to the substantive requirements laid down by this chapter for such awards, or that the proceedings were not substantially in conformity with this chapter; (b) That the award does not conform, nor con- fine itself, to the stipulations of the agreement to arbitrate; or (c) That a member of the board of arbitration rendering the award was guilty of fraud or cor- ruption; or that a party to the arbitration prac- ticed fraud or corruption which fraud or corrup- tion affected the result of the arbitration: Pro- vided, however, That no court shall entertain any such petition on the ground that an award is in- valid for uncertainty; in such case the proper remedy shall be a submission of such award to a reconvened board, or subcommittee thereof, for interpretation, as provided by this chapter: Pro- vided further, That an award contested as herein provided shall be construed liberally by the court, with a view to favoring its validity, and that no award shall be set aside for trivial irreg- ularity or clerical error, going only to form and not to substance. Fourth. Effect of partial invalidity of award If the court shall determine that a part of the award is invalid on some ground or grounds des- ignated in this section as a ground of invalidity, but shall determine that a part of the award is valid, the court shall set aside the entire award: Provided, however, That, if the parties shall agree thereto, and if such valid and invalid parts are separable, the court shall set aside the in- valid part, and order judgment to stand as to the valid part. Fifth. Appeal; record At the expiration of 10 days from the decision of the district court upon the petition filed as aforesaid, final judgment shall be entered in ac- cordance with said decision, unless during said 10 days either party shall appeal therefrom to the court of appeals. In such case only such por- tion of the record shall be transmitted to the ap- pellate court as is necessary to the proper un- derstanding and consideration of the questions of law presented by said petition and to be de- cided. Sixth. Finality of decision of court of appeals The determination of said court of appeals upon said questions shall be final, and, being certified by the clerk thereof to said district court, judgment pursuant thereto shall there- upon be entered by said district court. Seventh. Judgment where petitioner’s conten- tions are sustained If the petitioner’s contentions are finally sus- tained, judgment shall be entered setting aside the award in whole or, if the parties so agree, in part; but in such case the parties may agree upon a judgment to be entered disposing of the subject matter of the controversy, which judg- ment when entered shall have the same force and effect as judgment entered upon an award. Eighth. Duty of employee to render service with- out consent; right to quit Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to require an individual employee to render labor or service without his consent, nor shall any- thing in this chapter be construed to make the quitting of his labor or service by an individual employee an illegal act; nor shall any court issue any process to compel the performance by an individual employee of such labor or service, without his consent. (May 20, 1926, ch. 347, § 9, 44 Stat. 585; June 25, 1948, ch. 646, § 32(a), 62 Stat. 991; May 24, 1949, ch. 139, § 127, 63 Stat. 107.) Editorial Notes CODIFICATION As originally enacted, pars. Fifth and Sixth con- tained references to the ‘‘circuit court of appeals’’. Act June 25, 1948, as amended by act May 24, 1949, sub- stituted ‘‘court of appeals’’ for ‘‘circuit court of ap- peals’’. § 159a. Special procedure for commuter service (a) Applicability of provisions Except as provided in section 590(h) 1 of this title, the provisions of this section shall apply to any dispute subject to this chapter between a publicly funded and publicly operated carrier providing rail commuter service (including the Amtrak Commuter Services Corporation) and its employees. (b) Request for establishment of emergency board If a dispute between the parties described in subsection (a) is not adjusted under the fore- going provisions of this chapter and the Presi- dent does not, under section 160 of this title, cre- ate an emergency board to investigate and re- port on such dispute, then any party to the dis- pute or the Governor of any State through which the service that is the subject of the dis- pute is operated may request the President to establish such an emergency board. (c) Establishment of emergency board (1) Upon the request of a party or a Governor under subsection (b), the President shall create an emergency board to investigate and report on the dispute in accordance with section 160 of this title. For purposes of this subsection, the period during which no change, except by agree- ment, shall be made by the parties in the condi- tions out of which the dispute arose shall be 120 days from the day of the creation of such emer- gency board. (2) If the President, in his discretion, creates a board to investigate and report on a dispute be- tween the parties described in subsection (a), the provisions of this section shall apply to the same extent as if such board had been created pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection.