Originally from Dispute Resolution Journal

A review of this subject—by the general counsel to the General Accounting Office Personnel Appeals Board—appeared in the December 1982 issue of the Journal.

This article considers the law, regulations, and limited case decisions issued to date that address the availability of attorney's fees in federal sector arbitration. The requirements of eligibility for fees under the law and the question of the appropriate size of the fee award are examined.

Also discussed are the procedures arbitrators should follow in deciding fee requests. The scope of this study is confined to the availability of attorney's fees pursuant to 5 U.S.C. §5596 and §7701 (g)(1). The article is not intended to address the availability of such fees in federal sector arbitration under a separate federal statute, the Equal Access to lustice Act, 28 U.S.C. §2412; 5 U.S.C. §504.