SUPREME COURT AGREES TO CONSIDER JUDICIAL REVIEW OF ARBITRATOR'S RULING

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court agreed to decide whether questions of
public safety give courts expanded power to overrule arbitrators decisions.

Separately, the justices said they would rule on whether the
government can be forced to pay for property damage caused by
federally sponsored irrigation projects. In other case, the justices
let stand a lower-court decision barring race as a factor when
public-school students seek to transfer to another school.

In the arbitration case, the court said it will hear a West Virginia
coal company's argument that an arbitrator wrongly refused to let it
fire a heavy-equipment operator who twice tested positive for
marijuana use.

James Smith worked for Eastern Associated Coal Corp. in the Madison,
W.Va., area when in 1996 he applied for a position as a heavy
equipment operator. The job required a drug test, and his results were
positive for marijuana use. The company fired him, but Mr. Smith filed
a grievance and an arbitrator ordered the company to rehire him.

He passed three subsequent drug tests but again tested positive for
marijuana in June 1997. The company fired him once more, and an
arbitrator again ordered Mr. Smith reinstated, relying on Mr. Smith's
testimony that a family problem led to a "one time lapse."

Eastern asked a federal judge to overturn the arbitrator's decision,
saying there was a "well defined and dominant public policy" against
performing safety-sensitive jobs under the influence of illegal drugs.

But a federal judge ruled against the company, and the Fourth U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision. Courts "overwhelmingly
defer" to arbitrators' decisions in labor disputes, the appeals court
said, adding that federal regulations do not make it illegal to
reinstate employees who test positive for drug use.

Eastern's lawyers argue that federal appeals courts have disagreed
over when courts can overturn such arbitration awards. Workplace
safety is a "national concern," the appeal says, and illegal drug use
costs American businesses more than $60 billion a year. (Eastern
Associated Coal Corp. vs. United Mine Workers of America)