This appeal arises from the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County’s decision to uphold the opinion and award of an arbitrator in favor of appellee, Prince George’s County Police Civilian Employees Association (“PCEA”) against appellant, Prince George’s County (“County”). PCEA and the County are parties to a negotiated collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”) concerning the wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment for civilian employees of the Prince George’s County Police Department (“Department”).
On December 27, 2012, the arbitrator issued an Opinion and Award sustaining a grievance filed by PCEA challenging the County’s decision to terminate the employment of Marlon Ford, a civilian employee of the Department whose terms and conditions of employment are covered by the CBA. On the bases of the extensive record adduced during three days of “detailed testimony” from a “dozen witnesses,” resulting in a transcript of nearly 1,000 pages, the arbitrator found that the factual record did not support the County’s claim that it had “just cause” to terminate Ford’s employment.
The County challenged the arbitrator’s Order and Award in the circuit court, asserting that the Order and Award should be vacated because the County had met its burden of establishing that this case is within the narrow category of cases in which Maryland Courts may vacate an arbitration award. Specifically, the County claimed that the arbitrator (i) exceeded his authority by independently assessing facts and exercising his own judgment in concluding that the Department lacked “just cause” to terminate Ford’s employment; and (ii) issued an award that is contrary to clear public policy insofar as he found that Ford was entitled to be informed of his right
Citing Maryland’s well-settled law that a court will not generally disrupt the fair decision of an arbitrator, the circuit court rejected the County’s arguments. The County then filed this timely appeal.
The County raises the following issues on appeal, which we have reworded for clarity:
I. Whether the circuit court erred in failing to vacate the award of the arbitrator when the arbitrator made his own judgments and factual assessments regarding whether the employer had “just cause” to discipline the employee in the context of the CBA?
II. Whether the circuit court erred in failing to vacate the award of the arbitrator when it found it was not a violation of public policy that a governing body may bargain away or compromise the statutory duties of its public safety agency to investigate criminal conduct?
We answer the first question in the negative and the second question in the affirmative and thus reverse the arbitrator’s ruling for the reasons explained below.
FACTS
On May 15, 2011, a detective assigned to the Criminal Investigation Division (“CID”), of the Department reported to her supervisor that her firearm was missing and possibly stolen from the ladies’ bathroom at the Department’s headquarters. An expansive search and investigation was immedi
May 16, 2011, was an off-day for Ford, but he was called by the Department and asked to report to work. Upon his arrival, Ford’s supervisor told Ford that she needed to speak to him “real quick” and that it would “only take a minute.” Ford was then brought into a room and informed that an officer had misplaced her firearm. Ford was told that, after he provided a statement, he would be on his way. He provided a written statement at about 4:00 p.m.
During this part of the investigation, the detectives “screamed” and cursed at Ford, took his cell phone away, and told him that “no one’s going anywhere until the gun is found.” Ford was told that he was “under arrest,” and that he would be spending his birthday in jail. Ford was allowed one meal during the fourteen-hour ordeal, which he was allowed to eat at approximately 4:00 a.m. Ford allowed the Department to search his car and to search a room in his home but asked that he be allowed to alert his sickly grandmother before they searched his home so that she would not be startled when the police arrived. Ford was never given the opportunity to alert his grandmother and both his house and his car were “torn apart” and left in an “atrocious” condition. At no point before or during this interrogation was Ford advised that he had a right to union representation pursuant to Article 8 § C of the CBA between PCEA and the County.
Ford was never connected to the missing firearm. However, during Grooms’s interview, Grooms stated that on several
On May 17, 2011, following the CID detectives’ interrogation of Ford and Grooms, a referral was made to the Internal Affairs Division (“IAD”) to initiate an internal investigation with regard to allegations of Ford’s misconduct. Ford was at that time notified in writing that he was being placed on administrative leave pending the internal affairs investigation by the IAD investigator pursuant to the relevant provisions of the CBA. On July 26, 2011, Ford was notified in writing of his Weingarten
On or about August 26, 2011, PCEA submitted a Response to the Notice of Intent to Terminate Ford to the Chief. On August 26, 2011, the Chief issued his Notice of Final Disciplinary Action Terminating Ford effective August 29, 2011. On September 12, 2011, the Union timely issued a grievance letter stating that the disciplinary action against Ford was in violation of Article 8 of the CBA between PCEA and the County. Among the mutually agreed upon terms and conditions of employment enumerated in the CBA, Article 8 broadly outlines the situations in which the Department may discipline an employee and, in some detail, describes the disciplinary procedures that must be followed.
By its express terms, Article 8 of the CBA directly addresses discipline for administrative wrongdoing and conduct that constitute a “criminal violation[ ]” or is “related to an active criminal investigation.” For example, Article 8 § I states that the County will not initiate disciplinary action against an employee later than ninety days after the County becomes aware of the alleged infraction, but that this ninety day rule shall not apply where the alleged infractions are either “criminal violations” or are “related to an active criminal investigation.”
PCEA and the Department began a series of verbal negotiations to determine whether the Chief would be willing to reconsider Ford’s termination. On February 8, 2012, a representative from the Office of the Chief communicated to PCEA that the Chief would not modify Ford’s termination.
On February 16, 2012, PCEA, on Ford’s behalf, invoked its right to pursue a grievance through arbitration. On May 14, 2012, July 31, 2012, and August 1, 2012, both the County and PCEA presented evidence, testimony, and arguments on the merits of the union’s grievance before an arbitrator. On December 27, 2012, the arbitrator issued an Opinion and Award sustaining PCEA’s grievance and vacating the discipline imposed on Ford, with the exception of a 30-day suspension, finding that the termination of Ford’s employment “cannot be supported” on the record adduced at the hearing. The Opinion and Award focused on the County’s failure to prove its case, stating:
Almost every aspect of this case raises unanswered questions or is attended by sharply conflicting testimony.... Little purpose would be served by sifting through the many conflicts in the testimony and the written exhibits, most of which would be irreconcilable.
The arbitrator also found that the County violated Article 8 § C insofar as it failed to inform Ford that he was entitled to union representation during the May 16, 2011 interrogation. Nevertheless, the arbitrator found that Ford’s conduct was evidence of “bad judgment” and “deserving of discipline.” Weighing all of these factors, the arbitrator’s Order and Award sustained PCEA’s grievance and ordered a “ma[k]e whole” remedy, with the exception of a 30-day suspension.
DISCUSSION
A circuit court’s decision to grant or deny a petition to vacate or confirm an arbitration award is akin to an order granting or denying a motion for summary judgment. See Balt. Teachers Union, Am. Fed’n of Teachers, Local 310, AFL-CIO v. Mayor & City Council of Balt.,
Arbitration is favored in the dispute resolution process because “arbitrations are intended to compose disputes in a simple and inexpensive manner, whenever the parties to one have had a full and fair hearing the award of the arbitrators will be expounded favorably, and every reasonable intendment made in its support.” Roberts Bros. v. Consumers’ Can Co.,
Arbitrators are judges chosen by the parties to decide the matters submitted to them, finally and without appeal. As a mode of settled disputes, it should receive every encouragement from a court of equity. If the award is within the submission, and contains the honest decision of the arbitrators, after a full and fair hearing of the parties, a court of equity will not set it aside for error, either in law or fact. A contrary course would be a substitution of the judgment of the chancellor in place of the judges chosen by the parties, and would make an award the commencement, not the end, of the litigation.
Burchett v. Marsh,
It has been settled by a long line of decisions that, as arbitrations are intended to compose disputes in a simple and inexpensive manner, whenever the parties to one have had a full and fair hearing the award of the arbitrators will be expounded favorably, and every reasonable intendment made in its support. In such cases it is conceded that the court will not look into the merits of the matter and review the findings of law or fact made by the arbitrators, nor substitute its opinion or judgment for theirs, but will require*121 the parties to submit to the judgment of the tribunal of their own selection and abide by the award.
There are, however, narrow circumstances in which a court may vacate an arbitrator’s award. A court may set aside the judgment of an arbitrator when the party challenging the award is able to demonstrate that the proceedings were tainted by fraud, misconduct, bias, prejudice, corruption, or lack of good faith on the part of the arbitrator. Bd. of Educ. of Prince George’s Cnty.,
I. ARBITRATOR’S AUTHORITY
The County contends that the arbitrator exceeded his authority when he overturned the Police Chiefs determination that there was just cause to terminate Ford. The County avers that the role and authority of an arbitrator is derived directly from the provisions of the contract between the parties, and the relevant portions of the CBA do not provide the arbitrator with the “liberty to act as a super personnel officer” or substitute the factual findings of the employer who conducted the initial investigation of the employee’s misconduct. The County further contends that absent specific language as to the standard of review to be applied by an arbitrator during a just cause termination grievance, the arbitrator must apply an “objective reasonable standard” to the evidence to determine whether the employer had just cause to discipline or terminate the employee.
The CBA between the County and the PCEA affords the PCEA the right to bring a grievance “concerning the application or interpretation of the terms of th[e] Agreement or a claimed violation, misinterpretation or misapplication of the rules or regulations of the Employer affecting the terms and conditions of employment.” CBA Art. 9 § 9.1. The CBA sets out a multi-step grievance procedure. CBA Art. 9. Within ten days after the event giving rise of the grievance, the employee’s PCEA delegate may discuss the grievance with the Division Head and the Division Head will attempt to adjust the matter and respond orally to the employee within two days. CBA Art. 9 § 9.1. If the grievance is not settled through the discussions in Step 1 of the grievance process, a written grievance may be filed, including the specific relief sought, and presented to the Chief of Police. CBA Art. 9 § 9.2. Upon receipt of a written grievance, a meeting will be held within ten days where the Chief of Police meets with the employee, the PCEA President and the employee’s PCEA delegate to render a decision in writing no later than ten days after the meeting. Id. If the grievance is not settled in Step 2, the grievance may be moved to a written appeal, signed by the aggrieved employee and the PCEA President or the employee’s PCEA delegate. Id. The final step is to submit the dispute to an arbitrator who is “appointed to hear and decide [the] grievance” and whose decision “shall be final and binding on both parties.” CBA Art. 9 §§ 9.3(A)(4), 9.3(B). Thus, as it relates to the County’s application of the “just cause” standard
The County asserts that the arbitrator’s role in hearing a grievance over a “just cause” termination is far more limited. Under the County’s theory, the arbitrator’s role is “quasi-appellate,” or limited to determining whether the County had an “objectively] reasonable” basis for making such a decision, without evaluating the facts of the dispute from his “subjective point of view.” We agree with the PCEA that this theory is inconsistent with the CBA. Again, Article 9 of the CBA provides that when the parties have a “dispute concerning the application or interpretation of terms” of the contract, an arbitrator may be appointed to “hear and decide” the dispute and render an “final and binding” decision. A clear reading of this language is that the parties have agreed that the arbitrator had the authority to act in the manner that he did.
The County argues that the “essence” of the relevant provisions can only be interpreted to give the arbitrator the authority to determine whether the County’s determination was “objectively reasonable.” The County does not explain what it means by an “objectively reasonable” standard — whether it means that an arbitrator should affirm the County’s discipline determination if the decision was based on substantial evidence or was not arbitrary and capricious or was not clearly erroneous, or some other standard altogether. The County also fails to cite precedent or support for its position that there is an “objectively reasonable” standard or that the arbitrator should defer in anyway to the County’s factual findings.
Of course, the parties could have agreed that an arbitrator’s role is to serve some other function. For example, “[i]f the employer wanted the automatic right to discharge an employee for violation of certain company rules or for the commission of certain crimes, ... it had the opportunity to seek such an explicit exclusion from the general arbitration clause when the collective agreement was negotiated, as it may do when the
Further, not only did the parties agree to give the arbitrator “final and binding authority,” but they also affirmatively adopted the rules of the American Arbitration Association to “govern the conduct of the arbitration hearing.” CBA Art. 9 § 9.3(A)(4). Those rules gave the arbitrator the authority to determine the admissibility, the relevance, and materiality of the evidence offered and to exclude evidence deemed by the arbitrator to be cumulative or irrelevant.
Courts have consistently interpreted similar language to give arbitrators de novo authority to review “just cause” disciplinary determinations. The County has not identified a single case in Maryland, or anywhere else, which holds or indicates that the role of a arbitrator in hearing and deciding a grievance is to ask whether the employer’s decision was “objectively reasonable” and to defer to the employer’s own factual determination. On the contrary, both the Court of Appeals of Maryland and the United States Supreme Court have consistently found that the role of an arbitrator is to make factual determinations based on evidence presented. For example, in Amalgamated Transit Union,
The Court of Appeals’s holding in Amalgamated Transit Union adopted the reasoning of the Second Circuit in Local 453, supra,
Citing United Paperworkers Int’l Union, AFL-CIO v. Mis-co, Inc.,
The County’s reliance on Towson Univ. is also misplaced. In that case, Conte, the Director of Regional Economic Studies Institute for Towson University, sued the University for wrongful discharge and breach of contract requesting a jury trial. Towson Univ.,
II. PUBLIC POLICY
The County contends that the circuit court’s decision that officers in the Department are obligated to inform union members of their Weingarten rights while conducting a criminal investigation violates public policy. The County avers that the circuit court’s expansion of Weingarten interferes with a public agency’s statutory duties to detect and investigate criminal conduct.
PCEA responds that the circuit court correctly declined to vacate the arbitrator’s Order and Award because it did not constitute a violation of public policy. PCEA contends that there is no well established public policy in Maryland that is contradicted by the arbitrator’s Order and Award. PCEA further avers that not only is the Order and Award not contradictory to an established public policy, but it also does not provide any new rights to employees covered by the CBA. Finally, the PCEA contends that the County offers no justification for its claim that the CBA interferes with the Department’s duties to effectively investigate criminal conduct.
Weingarten rights stem from the United States Supreme Court’s decision in NLRB v. J. Weingarten, Inc.,
In this case, the arbitrator found that the detectives who questioned Ford about his use of Departmental vehicles and his alleged impersonating of a police officer violated Article 8 § C of the CBA because they did not first provide Ford notice of his rights under that contract provision. In particular, Article 8 § C requires that an employee subject to an investigatory interview that may result in discipline first be informed of his right to have a union representative present during questioning:
When an employee ... is to be the subject of an investigatory interview or other meeting which may result in discipline, he/she shall be informed in writing at least five (5) working*129 days prior to the start of the interview ... This time period may be extended by mutual consent of the Employer and the employee. However, if an immediate interview is required and the designated PCEA representative is unavailable, the employee may select another PCEA representative who can be present during the investigatory interview.
The arbitrator concluded, in what he considered to be a straightforward application of this section, that the County detectives failed to notify Ford about his right to union representation, and that this contract violation was not excused, even though it was in the course of a criminal interrogation of Ford about the missing handgun.
The County contends that the arbitrator’s application of Article 8 § C violates public policy by setting a precedent that constitutes an “expanded interpretation” of the CBA and interferes with public safety’s statutory duties to detect and investigate criminal conduct. The County contends that this is an issue of first impression in Maryland and relies on two out-of-state cases from New York, City of New York v. Uniformed Fire Officers Ass’n, Local 854, IAFF, AFL-CIO,
We disagree with the circuit court and the arbitrator that the reasoning and rationale of these cases are not applicable to the present case where the subject of the investigation continued to be a criminal act — impersonating an officer — and thus, the County’s desire for an expeditious investigation of the criminal matter was still at issue. As in the New York and Illinois cases, cited by the County, we agree that expanding the requirement of Weingarten rights to union employees that are the focus of a criminal investigation violates public
The Illinois State Police Department appealed that decision to the intermediate Appellate Court for Illinois, Fourth District and argued that the arbitrator, inter alia, (1) exceeded his authority in ruling that union members could not be interrogated regarding criminal matters unless they were provided with their Weingarten rights, (2) ignored the plain language of the contract, and (3) the arbitration award violates public policy. Id., 256 Ill.Dec. 424,
[A]n employer cannot by contract give its employees procedural rights and benefits regarding criminal investigations. The fact that the employer in this case is the Illinois State Police is immaterial. Clearly, when plaintiff is investigating an employees criminal conduct, it is acting under its statutory duty to enforce the laws of the State of Illinois, not as an employer.
Accordingly, we find that the arbitrator exceeded his authority and thus the trial court erred....
The Illinois Appellate Court also found that the arbitrator’s award requiring compliance with the Weingarten provisions of the collective bargaining agreement while the police department conducted criminal investigations violated the public policy of effective law enforcement. Id.,
Similarly, in City of New York,
The concomitant discretion conferred upon the Department to carry out its mandate would likewise be impermissibly compromised by the restrictions imposed upon its examination of witnesses by the collective bargaining agreement between respondent Uniformed Fire Officers Association and the New York City Fire Department. Because the prerogative of the Department to employ such investigative procedures as it deems appropriate may not be bargained away, there is no reason to submit to arbitration the question of whether the employee rights provisions of the union’s collective bargaining agreement are binding upon the [Department of Investigations].
Id. at 360.
As in Illinois State Police and City of New York, the arbitrator’s award here and the circuit court’s decision to uphold the arbitrator’s award constrains the ability of the County’s police department to conduct criminal investigations and interrogations of their union members. The arbitrator found that these cases did not apply because “[h]ere, the original investigation (the missing gun) was wholly unrelated to what quickly became the focus of the CID interrogation and the IAD investigation that followed.” However, the investigation that followed, while not related to the missing gun, still related to the criminal offense of impersonating an officer.
The PCEA contends that Article 8 § C was definitely interpreted in a 2004 arbitration, In re: Prince George’s County and Prince George’s County Police Civilian Employee’s Association (Smith, 2004) (herein “Lanier ”), and thus, the County knew that interrogating an employee about a criminal matter would require Weingarten rights. In Lanier, the Department interrogated an employee, Lanier, a public safety aide, regarding her criminal interference with a police investigation, without affording Lanier the rights guaranteed to her by Article 8 § C. The Department subsequently terminated her employment and PCEA filed a grievance in which it alleged, among other things, that the Department had violated Article 8 § C when it interviewed Lanier without affording her a right to union representation.
The County, in Lanier, denied that it violated Article 8 § C because Lanier was interviewed as part of a criminal investigation. However, the arbitrator noted that “[w]hile a criminal investigation was certainly ongoing, the grievant was also interrogated as an employee,” which created additional “pressure [for Lanier] to cooperate.” Lanier, at 16-17. The arbitrator noted that, “[i]f the grievant had simply been a member of the general public, she would not have been directed to go to Lt. Carney’s office, would not have been told to sit on a chair in the hall and stay there, and would not have been directed to stay after her shift ended and continue sitting in a chair.” The arbitrator further noted that the Department had conceded that a non-employee citizen in the grievant’s position would have had no obligation to speak with the police in those circumstances.
III. VACATION AND REMAND
Courts have found that arbitrator awards can be vacated for violating public policy. See Brown v. Rauscher Pierce Refsnes, Inc.,
Md.Code Ann., Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 3-225(a) provides that, “[i]f any award is vacated on grounds other than those stated in § 3-224(b)(5)[
Although judicial review of an arbitration award is very narrowly limited, DiapulseCorporation of America v. Carba, Ltd.,626 F.2d 1108 , 1110 (2d Cir.1980), a court should not attempt to enforce an award that is ambiguous or indefinite, id. at 1111; Bell Aerospace Co. v. Local 516, UAW,500 F.2d 921 , 923 (2d Cir.1974). An ambiguous award should be remanded to the arbitrators so that the court will know exactly what it is being asked to enforce. Cleveland Paper Handlers and Sheet Straighteners Union No. 11 v. E.W. Scripps Co.,681 F.2d 457 , 460 (6th Cir.1982) (per curiam); Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers International Union, Local 4-367 v. Rohm and Haas, Texas, Inc.,677 F.2d 492 , 495 (5th Cir.1982) (per curiam) (Appendix). We believe there is sufficient ambiguity to require a remand in the instant case.
Downey,
In this case, the arbitrator’s decision had four components. The arbitrator did not “believe that the grievant ever acted with the intent that would be required to prove that he should be convicted of the crimes enumerated in the charges against him.” Second, the arbitrator found that the personnel procedures for Prince George’s County encourage progressive discipline. Third, the arbitrator found that those procedures also recommend that mitigating factors are to be taken into consideration, such as the grievant’s excellent employment record in the present case.
The fourth component to the arbitrator’s decision was the Weingarten issue. In the arbitrator’s final decision, he stated that the New York and Illinois cases were distinguishable from this case because, “[i]n both those cases, the criminal investigation and the termination of employment involved the same behavior by the employee in question. Here, the original investigation (the missing gun) was wholly unrelated to what quickly became the focus of the CID interrogation and the IAD investigation that followed.” The arbitrator totally disregarded the criminal nature of the investigation that followed. The arbitrator found that the “failure to offer a Union representative to the grievant once the inquiry became the grievant’s behavior as an employee who, from time to time, drove, refueled and maintained police vehicles, [was] a significant factor weighing in the grievant’s favor. When combined with the other reasons given above, the arbitrator found that the grievant’s termination of employment could not be supported.
Although we defer to the arbitrator’s reasoning and findings as to the first three portions of his decision, we part company with him as to the fourth portion. As the arbitrator based his final decision to reduce the termination to a thirty (30) day suspension on all four of the enumerated reasons, we cannot
We, therefore, vacate the arbitrator’s decision and award. See Downey,
JUDGMENT OF THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY VACATED. CASE IS REMANDED FOR FURTHER PROCEEDINGS PURSUANT TO § 3-225(a) OF THE COURTS AND JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS ARTICLE. COSTS TO BE PAID BY APPELLEE.
Notes
. The following questions appear verbatim in the County's brief:
I. Whether the Circuit Court erred in failing to vacate the award of the Arbitrator who exceeded his authority by applying the wrong standard of review in derogation of the essence of the collective bargaining agreement?
II. Whether it is error and a violation of public policy for the Circuit Court to hold that a governing body may bargain away or compromise the statutory duties of its public safety agency to effectively investigate criminal conduct?
. In Smith v. State,
[T]he psychological stress evaluation test is basically a voice lie detector test. The principle underlying this test is that the human voice has many frequencies or a number of sound waves. In addition to the voice that can be heard, there are a series of low frequency (FM) sound waves which are inaudible to the human ear. When a person is under stress or lying, these FM sound waves tend to disappear, due to physiological changes in the body. Conversely, when a person is not under stress or is telling the truth, these FM sound waves are more pronounced. In other words, the absence of FM sound waves indicates the person is lying; the presence of FM sound waves indicates the person is telling the truth.
In order to conduct this test, the subject is asked certain questions and the answers are recorded on a tape recorder. This tape is reduced in speed and is fed into a psychological stress evaluator, which is similar to an electrocardiogram machine. Based on the reading of the chart from this machine, the examiner determines whether the subject is lying or telling the truth. It has a purported accuracy of 85 percent which is comparable to that of a lie detector.
. “Pursuant to Miranda v. Arizona,
. Pursuant to the "Agreement Made By and Between Prince George’s County, Maryland and The Prince George’s County Police Civilian Employees Association: July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2013," Article 8 § C provides:
When an employee is to be disciplined in a manner which involves a discussion or some other event other than the delivery of the written notice of discipline, or is to be the subject of an investigatory*116 interview or other meeting which may result in discipline, he/she shall be informed in writing at least five (5) working days prior to the start of the interview (1) of the name, rank or title, and command of the officer or supervisor in charge of the investigation, of the officer or supervisor conducting the interview and the nature of the investigation and (2) of his/her right to have present, upon request, a PCEA representative or other person of his/her choice. This time period may be extended by mutual consent of the Employer and the employee. However, if an immediate interview is required and the designated PCEA representative is unavailable, the employee may select another PCEA representative who can be present during the investigatory interview.
. NLRB v. J. Weingarten, Inc.,
. See American Arbitration Association Labor Arbitration Rule 27 (available at www.adr.org/labor (last visited July 22, 2014)).
. "Both non-union employees and union employers may benefit from this right. For example, the presence of a witness elevates the level of concern for fairness [for] both parties and places a non-manager in a position where he or she can provide substantiation during and after the interview. From the employee’s point of view, a co-worker witness keeps the employer’s nearly unfettered power somewhat in check. And from the employer’s point of view, the witness could provide additional information regarding the incident in question and the names of other relevant parties, as well as serve as an employee-level witness to attest to the fairness of the questions asked, the answers given, and the process in general. If discipline is imposed, the co-worker witness may even support the employer’s decision when queried by other co-workers in light of his or her first-hand knowledge of the proceedings.” Christine Neylon O’Brien, The NLRB Waffling on Weingarten Rights, 37 Loy. U. Chi. LJ. 111 (2005) (footnotes omitted).
. Md.Code (2003, 2011 Repl.Vol.), Public Safety Article § 3 — 502(b) states:
(b) Impersonating police officer prohibited.. — A person may not, with fraudulent design on person or property, falsely represent that the person is a police officer, special police officer, sheriff, deputy sheriff, or constable.
. Our view does not in any way eviscerate the CBA as it still would apply to a myriad of employment issues from insubordination to abuse of leave.
. Section 3-224. Vacating award.
(b) Grounds. — The courts shall vacate an award if:
* * *
(5) There was no arbitration agreement as described in § 3-206 of this subtitle, the issue was not adversely determined in proceedings*135 under § 302-8 of this subtitle, and the party did not participate in the arbitration hearing without raising the objection.