Creeping legalism in public sector grievance arbitration: an empirical approach.

Research on grievance arbitration in the public sector suggests that creeping legalism is a problem there just as much as in the private sector. Creeping legalism undermines arbitration's traditional informality and low cost and is marked by the use of lawyers, written transcripts, and formal evidence codes. A review of the literature and data indicated that these practices were becoming more common in public sector arbitration. Usage of arbitration decreases as it becomes more legalistic.