PUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 22-1268

ADVANTAGE VETERANS SERVICES OF WALTERBORO, LLC,

Plaintiff - Appellant,

v.

UNITED STEEL, PAPER AND FORESTRY, RUBBER, MANUFACTURING, ENERGY, ALLIED INDUSTRIAL AND SERVICE WORKERS INTERNATIONAL, Local 7898,

Defendant - Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Charleston. Margaret B. Seymour, Senior District Judge. (2:20–cv–02214–MBS)

Argued: March 9, 2023 Decided: June 15, 2023

Before NIEMEYER, QUATTLEBAUM and RUSHING, Circuit Judges.

Reversed by published opinion. Judge Quattlebaum wrote the opinion, in which Judge Niemeyer and Judge Rushing joined.

ARGUED: Lewis Traywick Duffie, LITTLER MENDELSON, P.C., Atlanta, Georgia, for Appellant. Keren Wheeler, UNITED STEELWORKERS, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Aaron I. Saltzman, Atlanta, Georgia, William H. Foster, LITTLER MENDELSON, P.C., for Appellant. USCA4 Appeal: 22-1268 Doc: 34 Filed: 06/15/2023 Pg: 2 of 12

QUATTLEBAUM, Circuit Judge:

The standard of review for arbitration awards is exceedingly narrow, with courts

generally deferring to an arbitrator’s findings and reasoning. But even under this limited

scope of review, an arbitration award must be vacated if it does not draw its essence from

the parties’ arbitration agreement. This appeal requires us to determine whether an

arbitration award failed to draw its essence from the agreement when an arbitrator ignored

the parties’ agreed upon procedural rules for conducting the arbitration. Under the language

of the agreement here, the answer is yes. So, we reverse the district court’s order affirming

the arbitration award and vacate the underlying award.

I.

In this appeal, Advantage Veterans Services of Walterboro, LLC (“AVSW”) and

United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and

Service Workers International, Local 7898 (the “Union”) dispute the legitimacy of an

arbitration award, which stemmed from the discharge of a union-represented employee.

The appeal centers on the provisions of the parties’ collective bargaining agreement (the

“CBA”). The CBA contains a number of provisions that govern the relationship between

AVSW, the Union and the Union’s members who work at AVSW. But for our purposes,

two articles are most important.

First, Article 14 gives AVSW the right to discipline and fire an employee. Section

2 of Article 14 provides: “AVSW reserves the right to discipline (including disciplinary

suspensions), discharge, dismiss or demote an employee for just cause. AVSW will notify

2 USCA4 Appeal: 22-1268 Doc: 34 Filed: 06/15/2023 Pg: 3 of 12

a Union Steward prior to suspending or discharging an employee, except in cases requiring

the immediate removal of an employee.” J.A. 37.

Second, Article 13 establishes a grievance procedure and arbitration requirement.

Under that provision, either AVSW or the Union may submit a grievance to arbitration if

the grievance is not satisfactorily resolved through the informal grievance procedure. But,

in doing so, Article 13 limits the arbitrator’s authority in conducting the arbitration. Section

4(e) demands that, in “all discipline cases,

Click Here to Read the rest of this document