The arbitrators identified 7 specific grounds for their decision:

 1.  “[T]he parties’ Arbitration Agreement imposes significant limitations on our arbitral authority...we may not interpret any statutes; nor may we modify the parties’ existing agreements in any way.”

 2.  “[O]ur arbitral jurisdiction is very different from that of Arbitrator Edwin H. Benn in BNSF v TCIU...[His] conclusions and rationale are accordingly inapposite to the issues before us.”

 3.  “[T]he federal district and appeals courts have contradicted Arbitrator Benn’s conclusions that the parties’ contracts must be read to incorporate and give way to the FMLA’s [substitution provision].”

 4.  “[T]he parties’ contracts as issue here do, as the District Court posited...’grant employees rights in addition to the accrual of vacation and/or personal leave, such as the right to determine when to use their accrued vacation and/or personal leave.’..In all cases, employers may not unilaterally change scheduled vacations without good cause and appropriate notice....[O]nce those days are set, no unilateral employer changes may occur without meeting specified contractual standards.  These are not insignificant contractual benefits.”

 5.  “[C]onsistent arbitral interpretation of the contracts at issue confirms this conclusion.”  “We see nothing in any of these cases [cited by the carriers] that would justify unilateral employer policies such as those at issue, which alter established individual employees’ scheduled vacations without any reference to the operational impact of those employees’ vacations on requirements of service at the locations involved or to express exceptions in the parties’ contract language.  (“In this connection, we reject as unfounded in the record the carriers’ suggestion that a minimal, ‘arbitrary and capricious’ standard is the appropriate test for proposed unilateral changes to scheduled vacations.  Carriers must establish reasons for proposed changes that are grounded in local operational needs and that are consistent with contractual standards.  A rationale basis alone will not suffice.”)  Those policies not only write requirements of service out of the parties’ contracts; they eliminate as well employee participation and seniority as elements of the vacation scheduling process.”

 6.  “[C]lear contract language and similar consistent arbitral precedent protect use of personal leave days and individual vacation days from arbitrary or unreasonable unilateral employer action unrelated to operational needs or other contractual standards.”

 7.  “[W]e reject as inapposite and unpersuasive the carrier’s remaining arguments with respect to their inherent managerial rights to control employee absenteeism and time off and with respect to what they call ‘the equities’ at issue.  In the first place, it is holy writ of labor-management relations that inherent managerial rights cannot trump express contract language controlling subject matter like vacation and personal leave scheduling....These employers must negotiate new contract language to permit their use of [the FMLA’s] permissive authority; we are powerless to award in the arbitration rights the employers have neither sought nor won in bargaining.”

 The bottom line Award: “The carriers’ policies requiring employees to substitute paid vacation and/or paid personal leave for unpaid FMLA leave do violate the requirements of the national vacation and/or national personal leave agreements.”

 According to the Arbitration Agreement, the Award becomes effective December 16.  On that date, the Agreement provides that “the carriers will immediately discontinue the invalidated provisions of [their] policies.”  The arbitrators then will consider “the appropriate remedy for employees who were required to use paid leave for FMLA leave in violation of the national vacation and/or national personal leave agreements.”  Assuming no agreed-upon extensions, initial submissions on that question will be due January 15, and replies January 30.  A hearing then would be held by February 13 and a decision issued by April 14.