The article examines 78 arbitration decisions that weigh the employer’s right to discipline for absenteeism against the employee’s family care-giving responsibilities. It places such absences in demographic context; examines when…

Arbitrator Knowlton posits that fairness requires the evolution of the concept of just cause to take into account the contemporary circumstances of workers, who increasingly lack a familial safety net.

The predominance of single-parent and dual-worker households has greatly increased the tension that employees feel between responsibilities to their jobs and responsibilities to their families. Labor arbitrators most commonly encounter…