Appellate Court Upholds Beth Din Arbitration Award

In Matter of Brisman v. Hebrew Academy of Five Towns & Rockaway, (NY App. Div, Feb. 16, 2010), a New York appellate court upheld an arbitration award by the Beth Din of America (a Jewish religious court) which found that a tenured teacher in a Jewish religious school was wrongfully terminated. The arbitrators ordered him reinstated and awarded him his lost pay. The decision reversed the trial court (see prior posting) which had refused to confirm the award because it required the school to employ an "at will" teacher who has a clear difference in religious philosophy from the administration for an indefinite tenure. The Appellate Division said that none of the narrow statutory grounds for vacating an arbitration award had been shown.