On October 29, 2026, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a significant decision that affects our union clients who represent police officer bargaining units.
In this decision, Justice Christine Donahue, writing for the majority, with a concurring and dissenting opinion by Chief Justice Debra Todd, reaffirmed the narrow scope of judicial review of grievance arbitration awards under the Pennsylvania Police and Fire Employees’ Act (Act 111), which has been coming under attack in the past several years by public employers.
The narrow scope of judicial review was established by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the cases of Pennsylvania State Police v. Pennsylvania State Troopers Ass’n (Betancourt) and Pennsylvania State Police v. Pennsylvania State Troopers’ Ass’n (Smith). The Supreme Court declined to adopt a public policy exception to the Betancourt test and refused to adopt a broader scope of judicial review. Although a public policy exception exists under federal law and under the Pennsylvania Public Employee Relations Act (Act 195), the Supreme Court found that there was no reason to disturb the policy reasons underlying Betancourt.
What does this mean for unions? Betancourt established that appeals of Act 111 grievance arbitration awards are subject to a strict narrow certiorari scope of review. This makes it virtually impossible for the courts to overturn an arbitration award under Act 111.
