## Facts

- Evans Products Company and the union were parties to a collective-bargaining agreement (CBA) that prohibited discrimination “on the basis of age.”
- The CBA also limited arbitral power, stating the arbitrator had no authority “to make any decisions on matters not covered by specific provisions of” the CBA.
- The CBA included a severability clause providing that if any provision of the CBA was found illegal, the remaining provisions would continue in effect.
- Adrian Landers, age 17, applied for employment with Evans Products.
- The position Landers sought included cleaning a mechanical saw used in woodworking operations.
- Evans Products refused to hire Landers after learning he was 17.
- The company relied on a federal child-labor regulation that, in its view, barred workers under 18 from working in jobs that required cleaning powered woodworking machines.
- The union disputed Evans Products’ reading of the federal regulation and filed a grievance alleging the refusal to hire violated the CBA’s age-discrimination clause.
- The grievance proceeded to arbitration under the CBA.

## Issues

1. Did the grievance fall within the arbitrator’s authority where the CBA limited arbitration to matters covered by specific CBA provisions?
2. Did Evans Products violate the CBA’s prohibition on discrimination “on the basis of age” by refusing to hire a 17-year-old applicant for the saw-cleaning job?
3. If federal law restricted minors from cleaning powered woodworking machines, could the CBA be applied to require hiring or assignment that would be unlawful?

## Decision

- The arbitrator treated the dispute as arbitrable because it arose under an express CBA provision—the age-discrimination clause—rather than a free-standing claim based only on external law.
- The arbitrator considered the employer’s federal-regulation defense in deciding how the CBA could be applied to the hiring decision.
- The arbitrator concluded the employer could not be required, through the CBA’s nondiscrimination language, to take action that would violate an applicable federal child-labor restriction governing the work at issue.
- The arbitrator denied contractual relief to the extent the grievance sought to compel employment in work barred for minors by federal regulation.

## Legal Principles

- A CBA clause limiting arbitration to disputes covered by specific contract terms does not bar arbitration when the grievance is anchored in an express provision such as a nondiscrimination clause.
- In labor arbitration, external law may be examined when raised as a defense to a contract claim, to determine whether the contract can be applied as the grievance requests.
- A nondiscrimination provision in a CBA does not authorize an arbitrator to order a remedy that would require an unlawful hiring or work assignment.
- A severability clause supports continued enforcement of the remainder of the CBA even if a requested application of the agreement would conflict with law.

## Conclusion

In *Evans Products Co., 70 Lab. Arb. Rep. 526 (1978)*, a union grieved Evans Products’ refusal to hire 17-year-old Adrian Landers for a job involving cleaning a mechanical saw, claiming the decision violated the CBA’s ban on age discrimination; the employer defended by citing a federal child-labor rule restricting minors from cleaning powered woodworking machines, and the arbitrator addressed the dispute as one arising under the CBA while concluding the agreement could not be applied to require employment or assignment in work prohibited by federal regulation.
