In re the Arbitration between Saks & Co. & Saks Fifth Avenue Women's Shoe Salespeople Committee

Breitel, J. P.

The union appeals from an order of Special Term granting the motion of Saks & Company, the employer, to stay arbitration pursuant to a demand made under a collective bargaining agreement. The underlying dispute relates to whether one Harry Share, a member of the union and an employee of Saks, is entitled both to severance pay and to pension benefits.

Because the employer’s pension plan is, by its terms, one administered and interpreted exclusively by the pension committee set up under the plan, Special Term held that the dispute was not subject to arbitration. An opposite result…