Originally from Dispute Resolution Journal

LABOR - COMPULSORY ARBITRATION - UTAH - FIRE FIGHTERS NEGOTIATION ACT HELD UNCONSTITUTIONAL SEVERABILITY

The Utah Supreme Court held that the Utah Fire Fighters' Negotiation Act, Chap. 20 a, Title 34, U.C.A. 1953, as enacted in 1975 was unconstitutional because it delegated unlimited discretion to private arbitrators to determine conditions of employment of the firefighters. The court also held that since the arbitration provisions were an integral part of the act which could not be severed without interfering with the underlying legislative purpose, the act was not severable, and the unconstitutionality of the arbitration provisions rendered the entire act unconstitutional.

Salt Lake City v. International Association of Firefighters, 563 P.2d 786 (Utah 1977).