On March 10, 2015, in Fraternal Order of Police Metro Transit Police Labor Committee, Inc. v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that an arbitration award reinstating employment a first time may not be enforced in federal court to reinstate employment a second time, where unrelated events led to the second termination and a contracted grievance process has not been exhausted (, No. 14-1332 (4th Cir. Mar. 10, 2015)).

The defendant, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), which operates bus and rail systems in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia, employs a police force known as the Metro Transit Police Department (MTPD). The WMATA terminated the employment of two MTPD officers for misconduct in separate events. The Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), which is the bargaining agent for MTPD officers and therefore party to the officers' collective bargaining agreement with WMATA, filed grievances on behalf of those two officers. The Board of Arbitration considered the grievances, overturned the discharges and concluded that the officers should have been suspended and not terminated. However, as a result of their termination, the two officers lost their certifications to serve in Maryland. Thereafter, the officers were placed on paid administrative leave while they sought recertification. When Maryland denied recertification, WMATA discharged the officers a second time. The FOP filed grievances for the second terminations and those grievances were denied.

Rather than challenge the newly denied grievances to the Board of Arbitration, the FOP filed an action in federal court, alleging that WMATA failed to comply with the initial arbitration awards, in violation of the bargaining agreement. The district court held for the FOP, finding that WMATA failed to carry its burden to displace the presumption that arbitral awards are to be enforced as written. The district court ordered that WMATA reinstate the officers and award them back-pay and benefits and denied WMATA's motions for reconsideration. WMATA appealed.

The Fourth Circuit reversed, holding that the FOP needed to exhaust the grievance procedure set forth in the collective bargaining agreement before filing in federal court. The Circuit held that an employee cannot challenge a second termination, after reinstatement of employment, by seeking enforcement of the arbitration award that reinstated employment. Because the initial arbitration award did not consider that the officer's recertification might have been denied, the Fourth Circuit lacked authority to determine whether WMATA breached the collective bargaining agreement. The proper method of determining whether WMATA wrongfully terminated employment a second time should have been the grievance process set forth in the bargaining agreement.