REINHARDT, Circuit Judge:

This case requires us to consider once again the nature and extent of the "public policy exception" to the finality of labor arbitrators' awards. In so doing, we reemphasize both the narrow manner in which we have historically construed that exception and the general deference we have afforded, and must afford, to the awards of labor arbitrators. Gale Rocks, an auto mechanic and member of appellant Lodge 1173 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers ("Local" or "the union"), was discharged for work-related conduct. The matter was submitted to arbitration, and the arbitrator ordered Rocks reinstated to his former employment following a 120-day suspension. Appellee Stead Motors of Walnut Creek ("Stead Motors," "the employer"), sued to vacate the award in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that Rocks' reinstatement would violate public policy by "endanger[ing] the health and safety of [its] customers and the public." The district judge apparently accepted this argument and vacated the portion of the award which ordered Rocks reinstated. A three-judge panel of this court affirmed. The case was then taken en banc. The original panel opinion, reported at 843 F.2d 357 (9th Cir. 1988), is withdrawn and we now reverse.

I.

Stead Motors sells Mercedes Benz automobiles; Gale Rocks services them. First employed as a mechanic by Stead Motors in 1977, Rocks performed his duties without incident until 1984. In that year, Rocks received a written warning notice for failing properly to tighten the lug bolts on the wheels of a car he had serviced. The warning referred to Rocks' action as one of "gross negligence" and, according to the terms of the collective bargaining agreement ("the Agreement"), remained in effect for 30 days.

Approximately eleven months later, in September 1985, Rocks had a dispute with his shop foreman about the proper manner in which to tighten lug bolts after replacing the tires on a car. The arbitrator found that Rocks "was advised," although the record does not make clear precisely by whom, that his foreman had "absolute authority" over matters such as proper lug bolt tightening procedures. On October 14, 1985, Rocks replaced the front brake pads on a car, a job which required him to remove the wheels and, upon replacing them, to affix the lug bolts. As the car's owner drove home, he noticed a "very heavy" vibration in his car's front end. Stead Motors dispatched an employee to the customer's home. Upon inspecting the rough-riding Mercedes, the employee found that several lug bolts in both wheels were loose, with one bolt missing altogether.

Stead Motors, believing that Rocks's failure to secure the lug nuts amounted to "just cause" under the collective bargaining agreement, decided to terminate him. In a letter to Rocks and his union dated the day after the incident, the employer referred to the written warning which had been issued a year before and claimed that Rocks' failure to tighten the lug bolts on the second car was "tantamount to recklessness," a category of behavior which entitled the employer to discharge an employee without notice. Rocks, through the union, sought to have an arbitrator determine whether the conduct on which Stead Motors had based his discharge amounted to just cause under the Agreement. Although the Agreement required such matters to be adjudicated by a board comprised of representatives of management and labor and a neutral member agreeable to both, the parties decided to submit the matter to a single neutral arbitrator. (Neither party has challenged the arbitration procedures employed, and we have no cause to question them either.)

The matter was heard before Arbitrator Robert Le Prohn, who subsequently issued a written opinion and award. At the hearing Stead Motors had asserted three factors in support of its discharge decision: 1) the 1984 warning for lug bolt malfeasance; 2) Rocks' "attitude problems"; and 3) the "reckless" October 1985 failure to affix the lug bolts properly. With respect to the 1984 warning, Le Prohn found that the collective bargaining agreement clearly established that warning letters could not remain in effect for more than thirty days, making the year-old letter an improper factor on which to rely. As to Rocks' "attitude problems," the arbitrator ruled that Stead Motors' reliance on that factor was unwarranted. At the same time, he noted that, while the union had made out a prima facie case that Rocks' union activity was a motivating factor in Stead Motor's discharge decision, the record established that Rocks would not have been fired but for the October 14 lug bolt incident. ( See supra n. 1.)

Turning to the final factor asserted by Stead Motors, that of the October lugs, Arbitrator Le Prohn first rejected the union's contention that Stead Motors should have been bound by its treatment of the similar incident for which it issued the written warning in 1984 as one of "gross negligence." He then ruled that Rocks' repeat offense suggested indifference to the consequences of his actions and was therefore properly deemed "reckless." Consequently, he reasoned, discipline was appropriate under the collective bargaining agreement.

The "Remedy" section of the arbitrator's award is the most important to our review; in some respects it is also the most confusing. We set out the relevant passages:

One of the three bases relied upon by [Stead Motors] to support [Rocks'] removal has been established; two have not. [Stead Motors'] failure to establish that pursuant to the contract it was justified in relying on each of the factors leads to the conclusion that discharge is too severe a disciplinary action.

[Rocks] is entitled to reinstatement to his former position. However, his reckless conduct on October 14, 1985 warrants severe discipline. . . . Discipline is aimed at rehabilitation; reinstatement with a one-hundred and twenty (120) day suspension should serve as an object lesson and impress upon [him] that he is required to follow instructions and perform his job duties fully and carefully.

Stead Motors, dissatisfied with the outcome of the arbitration procedure, filed suit in the Superior Court of Contra Costa County, California to vacate the portion of the award that ordered Rocks reinstated. It argued that the arbitrator had exceeded his authority, that his award "d[id] not draw its essence from the Agreement," and that reinstatement would violate public policy inasmuch as it would allow Rocks to "endanger the lives and safety of the traveling public."

The union removed the action to federal court under 28 U.S.C. § 1441(a), on the ground that Stead Motors' claim was cognizable under the federal courts' original jurisdiction pursuant to § 301 of the National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 185. The district judge issued an order vacating the arbitrator's award, to the extent that it ordered reinstatement, on public policy grounds.

The union appealed to a three-judge panel of this court which affirmed the district court. Stead Motors v. Automotive Machinists Lodge 1173, 843 F.2d 357 (9th Cir. 1988). The panel's brief opinion found that reinstatement of Rocks would violate California's public policy "regarding automobile safety and maintenance," 843 F.2d at 359, a policy it gleaned from two sections of the California Code. Turning first to § 24002 of the state Vehicle Code, the panel reasoned that California's pronouncement that "[i]t is unlawful to operate any vehicle or combination of vehicles which is in an unsafe condition." amounted to an "`express legislative recognition'" of the danger posed by improperly maintained vehicles. Id., (quoting Maloney v. Rath, 69 Cal.2d 442, 448, 71 Cal.Rptr. 897, 900, 445 P.2d 513, 516 (1968)). The panel looked next to California's Automotive Repair Act, Business and Professions Code § 9880 et seq., which established a state Bureau of Automotive Repair and provided for the inspection and certification of automobile repair facilities, and concluded that the Bureau's power to revoke the certification of a repair facility for cases of "gross negligence," § 9884.7(1)(e), meant that "Stead Motors could not have kept Rocks and stayed in business." 843 F.2d at 359.

We decided to rehear the matter en banc.

II.

In reviewing the merits of Stead Motors' challenge to the arbitrator's award, we must acknowledge that the task is different from that which judges are accustomed to perform; for, when reviewing the award of an arbitrator chosen by the parties to a collective bargaining agreement, we are bound — under all except the most limited circumstances — to defer to the decision of another, even if we believe that the decision finds the facts and states the law erroneously. Possibly because the nature of our review in these cases is so unusual, there may be a tendency for judges, often with the most unobjectionable intentions, to exceed the permissible scope of review and to reform awards in our own image of the equities or the law. Consequently, cases like this one, which acquire the plenary attention of our court, provide an opportunity to repeat and reemphasize the unique character of an arbitrator's function and the nearly unparalleled degree of deference we afford his decisions. We also specifically reaffirm this circuit's settled construction of the so-called "public policy exception" to the finality of arbitrator's awards in light of recent Supreme Court pronouncements.

We turn, then, first to a brief description of the role arbitration plays in the process of collective bargaining and the role of the arbitrator in defining collective bargaining agreements. Subsequently, we examine the process by which arbitrators arrive at their awards and the character of those awards themselves. Finally, we come to the role of judges in this scheme, reviewing the historical approaches of the Supreme Court and of this circuit to judicial review of arbitrator's awards. The discussion provides a necessary background to the narrow issue we must decide here — whether the arbitrator's reinstatement of Rocks violated "public policy." We provide the background in detail because, as the history of this case eloquently shows, ultimate questions in the arbitration sphere cannot be answered properly if divorced from an understanding of the nature of the arbitral process itself.

A. Arbitration and Arbitrators in the Labor Context

Arbitration is a central feature of the collective bargaining process, designed to function alongside the labor contract in maintaining equity and a balance of power in the workplace. Indeed, the mandatory and prearranged arbitration of grievances is a critical aspect of the parties' bargain, the means through which they agree "to handle the anticipated unanticipated omissions of the [collective bargaining agreement]." St. Antoine, Judicial Review of Labor Arbitration Awards: A Second Look at Enterprise Wheel and Its Progeny, 75 Mich.L.Rev. 1137, 1140 (1977) (" Judicial Review"). The arbitrator under such a scheme serves a function somewhat different from that served by the arbitrator in the commercial context. He does not merely provide an alternative means of resolving disputes, nor is he chosen simply for his expertise in a specific field or his ability to give definitive answers with greater efficiency and speed than the courts. Cf. e.g. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. v. Soler Chrysler-Plymouth, Inc., 473 U.S. 614, 628, 105 S.Ct. 3346, 3354, 87 L.Ed.2d 444 (1985) (arbitrating a commercial claim "trades the procedures . . . of the courtroom for the simplicity, informality, and expedition of arbitration"). Unlike the commercial contract, which is designed to be a comprehensive distillation of the parties' bargain, the collective bargaining agreement is a skeletal, interstitial document. United Steelworkers of Am. v. Warrior Gulf Navigation Co., 363 U.S. 574, 578, 580-81, 80 S.Ct. 1347, 1350, 1351-52, 4 L.Ed.2d 1409 (1960) (" Warrior Gulf"). The labor arbitrator is the person the parties designate to fill in the gaps; for the vast array of circumstances they have not considered or reduced to writing, the arbitrator will state the parties' bargain. He is "the parties' officially designated `reader' of the contract . . . their joint alter ego for the purpose of striking whatever supplementary bargain is necessary" to handle matters omitted from the agreement. Judicial Review, 75 Mich.L.Rev. at 1140.

Since the labor arbitrator is designed to function in essence as the parties' surrogate, he cannot "misinterpret" a collective bargaining agreement. As Professor St. Antoine observes, "[i]n the absence of fraud or an overreaching of authority on the part of the arbitrator, he is speaking for the parties, and his award is their contract." Id. (emphasis in original) Thus, what courts do when they review an arbitrator's award is more akin to the review of a contract than of the decision of an inferior tribunal: the award, just as a contract, is the expression of the parties' will and must be enforced as expressed unless illegal or otherwise void. Judicial "reinterpretation," no less than judicial reformation of a contract against the wishes of all the parties to it, is ordinarily an invalid exercise of our power. See, e.g. San Francisco-Oakland Newspaper Guild v. Tribune Pub. Co., 407 F.2d 1327, 1327 (9th Cir. 1969) (per curiam) ("It is the arbitrator's construction that was bargained for; and so far as the arbitrator's decision concerns construction of the contract, the courts have no business overruling him, because their interpretation of the contract is different than his."); Louisiana-Pacific Corp. v. International Bhd. of Elec. Workers, 600 F.2d 219, 226 (9th Cir. 1979) (enforcing arbitrator's award since company, which "[a]t several stages . . . made choices as to collective bargaining" strategy "must now abide the consequences of those choices"). Deference is premised on the simple notion that courts do not free the individual from his obligations merely because those obligations have turned sour on him. The labor arbitrator's award, often termed the rendering of "industrial justice," is simply a manifestation of the parties' obligations under their contract:

Whatever the content or import of the challenged award, and however it may otherwise be described, the brand of industrial justice dispensed in that award is the precise brand the party assessed and agreed to purchase, eyes open, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer.

Jones, "His Own Brand of Industrial Justice": The Stalking Horse of Judicial Review of Labor Arbitration, 30 UCLA L.Rev. 881, 893 (1983).

B. The Arbitrator's Award

Arbitrators' awards are not judicial opinions. They are ad hoc documents which express the meaning of a collective bargaining agreement as applied to a particular set of facts. In contrast to judges, labor arbitrators are not bound by the strictures of precedent or by the record actually before them; nor are they generally subject to reversal by "superior tribunals" for errors of law or fact. See infra at 1207.

The content of arbitral opinions and awards often reflects the contrasts between judges and arbitrators, and between judicial and arbitral proceedings. Arbitrators are generally not lawyers. Even if an arbitrator happens to be a lawyer, it is more likely than not that he was chosen for his knowledge of the industrial "shop" rather than any general knowledge of the law that he might possess. Cf. Warrior Gulf. 363 U.S. at 581-82, 80 S.Ct. at 1352-53. The proceedings the arbitrator conducts are generally informal, lacking most of the fixed rules of procedure and evidence under which lawyers and judges customarily operate. The opinion and award the arbitrator writes is a document intended to answer a specific question rather than set forth any legal principles. Accordingly, we do not require labor arbitrators to make the sorts of explicit or exhaustive "findings of fact" we demand of district courts; likewise, the reasons for arbitral rulings need not be spelled out in detail. Indeed. "[a]rbitrators have no obligation . . . to give their reasons for an award" at all. United Steelworkers of Am. v. Enterprise Wheel Car Corp., 363 U.S. 593, 598, 80 S.Ct. 1358, 1361, 4 L.Ed.2d 1424 (1960) (" Enterprise Wheel").

As to the bases for an arbitrator's award, commentators and courts have long recognized that the arbitrator is entitled, and is even expected, to range afield of the actual text of the collective bargaining agreement he interprets:

The labor arbitrator's source of law is not confined to the express provisions of the contract, as the industrial common law — the practices of the industry and the shop — is equally part of the collective bargaining agreement although not expressed in it.

Warrior Gulf, 363 U.S. at 581-82, 80 S.Ct. at 1352-53. Such a construction of the contract and the arbitrator's function is required by the nature of the bargaining process itself. Since labor contracts are negotiated and "written with industrial practices and psychology in mind," arbitrators must draw from their personal knowledge of the workplace and the relevant industry when they make their awards. Judicial Review, 75 Mich.L.Rev. at 1147-48; see also Pacific Northwest Bell Tel. Co. v. Communications Workers of Am., 310 F.2d 244, 246 (9th Cir. 1962) ("collective bargaining contracts by their very nature cannot fairly be limited to their express provisions").

C. Judicial Review of Arbitrators' Awards

The implication of the preceding section for a court reviewing the award of a labor arbitrator is clear. Unfamiliar with "the practices of the industry and the shop," courts are not competent to second-guess an arbitrator's judgment. Furthermore, since there is nothing proscribed, or even imprudent, about the taking of "arbitral notice" in the formulation of an arbitral award and no requirement (or even a reasonable expectation) that an arbitrator write an exhaustive "opinion," a court often has no principled ground upon which to question an arbitrator's ratio decidendi. More importantly, a court is barred from disregarding the arbitrator's factual determinations, let alone supplementing them with its own, or from "correcting" an arbitrator's erroneous understanding of the law. Sheet Metal Workers v. Arizona Mechanical Stainless, Inc., 863 F.2d 647, 653 (9th Cir. 1988) (" Sheet Metal Workers"); American Postal Workers Union v. United States Postal Service, 682 F.2d 1280, 1284 (9th Cir. 1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1200, 103 S.Ct. 1183, 75 L.Ed.2d 431 (1983).

This approach to judicial review of labor arbitration awards found its first important expression in three 1960 Supreme Court cases, two of which have been mentioned already, which have come to be known as the " Steelworkers Trilogy." Accordingly, any discussion of judicial review issues should include a description of Justice Douglas' opinions for the Court in Steelworkers of America v. American Manufacturing Co., 363 U.S. 564, 80 S.Ct. 1343, 4 L.Ed.2d 1403 (1960) (" American Manufacturing"); United Steelworkers of America v. Warrior Gulf Navigation Co., 363 U.S. 574, 80 S.Ct. 1347, 4 L.Ed.2d 1409 (1960) (treated in a related context, supra, at 1205-06); and United Steelworkers of America v. Enterprise Wheel Car Corp., 363 U.S. 593, 80 S.Ct. 1358, 4 L.Ed.2d 1424 (1960).

In American Manufacturing, the Court expressed for the first time the proposition that courts must refrain from "depriving" a party to a collective bargaining agreement of its right to a hearing before an arbitrator. The Court, emphasizing the "therapeutic values" of arbitrating even seemingly frivolous claims, 363 U.S. at 567-68, 80 S.Ct. at 1346-47, ruled that enjoining arbitral proceedings would be improper even in a case in which the appropriate resolution of the issues would ordinarily be deemed to be "beyond dispute."

Warrior Gulf explained the unique character of the collective bargaining agreement; "more than a contract," the agreement has to be seen as "a generalized code to govern a myriad of cases which the draftsmen cannot wholly anticipate." 363 U.S. at 578, 80 S.Ct. at 1350. The opinion then proceeded at some length to discuss the wide range of permissible sources of law for the arbitrator, supra at 1206, advising courts not to be suspicious of arbitrators' awards or hesitant to enforce them merely because an arbitrator's actions might not track those of courts faced with analogous situations, or because the arbitrator's judgments seem "foreign to the competence" of the federal courts. Id. at 580-81, 80 S.Ct. at 1351-52. Finally, the Warrior Gulf court returned to its comparison of the relative competence of courts and arbitrators in the labor field, concluding that "[t]he ablest judge cannot be expected to bring the same experience and competence [possessed by an arbitrator] to bear upon the determination of a grievance, because he cannot be similarly informed [of the "common law of the shop" and the "specialized needs" of the parties]." Id. at 582, 80 S.Ct. at 1352.

In terms of import for judicial review of arbitration awards, the most significant case in the Trilogy was Enterprise Wheel. In straightforward, almost terse, language the Court reasoned that the "federal policy of settling labor disputes by arbitration would be undermined if courts had the final say on the merits of awards." 363 U.S. at 596, 80 S.Ct. at 1360. Thus, outright "refusal to review the merits" of arbitrators' awards was normally "the proper approach" for courts to follow when a disgruntled party sought to challenge them. Id. The only time in which a court could, and indeed was obligated to, refuse to enforce the arbitrator's award was in those cases in which the arbitrator had "dispense[d] his own brand of industrial justice," issuing an award which failed to "draw its essence from the collective bargaining agreement." Id. at 597, 80 S.Ct. at 1361.

The Court was equally categorical in its treatment of judicial second-guessing of the remedy formulated by an arbitrator, stressing the arbitrator's "need . . . for flexibility in meeting a wide variety of situations" and the deference to be afforded the arbitrator's use of "his informed judgment . . . to reach a fair solution of a problem." Id. In Enterprise Wheel, the arbitrator found discharge an inappropriate punishment for several employees who had left their jobs to protest the firing of a co-worker, but had immediately returned to work when advised by their union to do so. In the Court's words, "[i]n [the arbitrator's] view, the facts warranted at most a suspension of the men for 10 days each." Id. at 595, 80 S.Ct. at 1360. The Court ruled definitively that the arbitrator's decision to reinstate the employees following the 10-day suspensions was not subject to review, except insofar as the court was allowed to ensure that the award had "drawn its essence" from the arbitrator's construction of the contract. A reviewing court, moreover, was strictly forbidden to reject the arbitrator's choice of punishment "merely [because it] disagreed" with it. 363 U.S. at 598, 80 S.Ct. at 1361.

Finally, the Enterprise Wheel court referred to two temptations to which courts might fall prey, both of which have already been discussed briefly above. Looking first at the acknowledged likelihood that the written renderings of some awards might be ambiguous, the Court advised that "mere ambiguity in the opinion accompanying an award, which permits the inference that the arbitrator may have exceeded his authority, is not a reason for refusing to enforce the award." 363 U.S. at 598, 80 S.Ct. at 1361: cf. supra at 1203 n. 3 and 1207. General references to "ambiguity" were not to serve as excuses for judicial rehearing of a grievance. Second, the Court explicitly commented on the "misinterpretation" problem discussed already (at 1205-06). In terms which admit of no dispute, the Court cautioned:

It is the arbitrator's construction which was bargained for; and so far as the arbitrator's decision concerns construction of the contract, the courts have no business overruling him because their interpretation of the contract is different from his.

Id. at 599, 80 S.Ct. at 1362.

This circuit has adhered to, and elaborated on, the spirit of the Trilogy's admonitions. A recent decision aptly summarizes our approach to judicial review of arbitration awards:

Judicial scrutiny of an arbitrator's decision is extremely limited. The arbitrator's factual determinations and legal conclusions generally receive deferential review as long as they derive their essence from the [collective bargaining agreement]. If, on its face, the award represents a plausible interpretation of the contract, judicial inquiry ceases and the award must be enforced. This remains so even if the basis for the arbitrator's decision is ambiguous and notwithstanding the erroneousness of any factual findings or legal conclusions.

Sheet Metal Workers, 863 F.2d at 653 (citations omitted).

At times, we have expressed these propositions in slightly different, though substantively indistinguishable, terms. See, e.g., Pack Concrete, Inc. v. Cunningham, 866 F.2d 283, 285 (9th Cir. 1989) (emphasizing the "extremely narrow" scope of review of arbitral decisions); Local Joint Executive Bd. of Las Vegas v. Riverboat Casino, Inc., 817 F.2d 524, 526-27 (9th Cir. 1987) ("not the court's role to determine whether the arbitrator has reached the same result the court would have reached") (citations omitted); Orange Belt Dist. Council of Painters No. 48 v. Kashak, 774 F.2d 985, 990 (9th Cir. 1985) (" Orange Belt") (arbitral award must be enforced "`even if the basis for the decision is ambiguous, and notwithstanding the erroneousness of any factual findings or legal conclusions'") (quoting George Day Construction Co. v. United Bhd. of Carpenters and Joiners of Am., Local 354, 722 F.2d 1471, 1477 (9th Cir. 1984)); Broadway Cab Co-op. v. Teamsters Chauffeurs Local Union No. 281, 710 F.2d 1379, 1382 (9th Cir. 1983) (federal court "ordinarily engages in only a very limited review of an arbitrator's decision," reviewing "the arbitrator's resolution of [a] question under the Steelworkers Trilogy standard even if the question is one that is ordinarily for the courts to decide") (citations omitted).

There is no orthodoxy with respect to the manner in which courts must express their deference to arbitrators' awards and no problem with varying expressions so long as the scope or degree of deference is not diminished. What is important is that the language recited at the beginning of our opinions not be forgotten when it comes time to apply those principles to the facts of the individual case. Deference is the rule; rare indeed is the exception.

D. The Public Policy Exception

One of the exceptions to the requirement that courts defer to the awards of arbitrators is the now-settled rule that a court need not, in fact cannot, enforce an award which violates public policy. The contours of this exception as applied in the arbitration context were first outlined by the Supreme Court in W.R. Grace Co. v. Local Union 759, 461 U.S. 757, 103 S.Ct. 2177, 76 L.Ed.2d 298 (1983) (" Grace"). In Grace, the Court dealt with a conflict between a collective bargaining agreement, which gave seniority to certain male employees, and a consent decree between the employer and the EEOC designed to settle a sex discrimination suit under Title VII. When the male employees lost the seniority guaranteed by the collective bargaining agreement because of the implementation of the consent decree, they sought arbitration. An arbitrator held that, irrespective of the consent decree, the employer had breached the seniority provisions of the agreement and ruled for the employees. 461 U.S. at 759-64, 103 S.Ct. at 2179-82.

In the course of confirming enforcement of the arbitration award, the Court discussed the public policy exception. Beginning with the proposition that, "[a]s with any contract . . . a court may not enforce a collective-bargaining agreement that is contrary to public policy," the Court ruled that questions of public policy were properly answered in the courts and that, if a court found that an arbitral award violated public policy, it would be "obliged to refrain from enforcing it." Id. at 766, 103 S.Ct. at 2183.

The Court then sought to give some content to the term "public policy." For an asserted public policy to be sufficient to preclude enforcement of an arbitrator's award, it had to be "explicit;" furthermore, it had to be "well defined and dominant." Id. Finally, such a policy could be satisfactorily demonstrated only "`by reference to the laws and legal precedents'" and could not be the product of the parties' or the courts' "`general considerations of supposed public interests'." Id. (quoting Muschany v. United States, 324 U.S. 49, 66, 65 S.Ct. 442, 451, 89 L.Ed. 744 (1945)).

Although Grace's careful description of "public policy" was intended to constrain the application of the public policy exception, the Court's explicit recognition of the exception had a countervailing impact in the lower courts, and "public policy" became a favorite pretext for those less than favorably disposed to the awards of labor arbitrators. This reaction prompted a more definitive statement from the Court in United Paperworkers Int'l Union, AFL-CIO v. Misco, Inc., 484 U.S. 29, 108 S.Ct. 364, 98 L.Ed.2d 286 (1987) (" Misco"). In Misco. an employee was discharged after marijuana was found by police in his home and a marijuana cigarette was seen in a car in which he was sitting. The employee's job duties included operating a "slitter-rewinder," a machine the arbitrator termed "hazardous." The arbitrator ordered reinstatement with backpay, finding that the employer had failed to prove that the employee had actually possessed or used illegal substances while on company property and thus that he had violated any company rule. 108 S.Ct. at 368-69, 374.

The Fifth Circuit had affirmed a district court decision vacating the award, reasoning that reinstatement would violate the public policy "against the operation of dangerous machinery by persons under the influence of drugs or alcohol." Misco, Inc. v. United Paperworkers Intern. Union, 768 F.2d 739, 743 (5th Cir. 1985). The Supreme Court unanimously reversed, holding that the circuit court had failed to follow the dictates of Grace with respect to the articulation and application of a public policy necessitating the invalidation of the arbitrator's award.

The Court began by reaffirming the "explicit" and "well defined and dominant" requirements expressed in Grace, 108 S.Ct. at 373, saying that the result in that case had "turned on [its] examination of whether the award created any explicit conflict with other `laws and legal precedents' rather than an assessment of `general considerations of supposed public interest.'" Id. (quoting Grace, 461 U.S. at 766, 103 S.Ct. at 2183). "At the very least," Justice White continued for the Court, "an alleged public policy must be framed under the approach set out in W.R. Grace, and the violation of such a policy must be clearly shown if an award is not to be enforced." Id. 108 S.Ct. at 373-74.

The Court concluded that the Fifth Circuit's articulation of a general "public policy" against drug use by employees violated the strict requirements of the Grace formulation; that no violation of the public policy it articulated had been "clearly shown" in any case; and that the circuit court had, in the course of its public policy analysis, improperly drawn an inference (that the employee was in fact using drugs in the workplace) at odds with the findings of the arbitrator. 108 S.Ct. at 374. Explicitly disapproving the latter endeavor, the Court said:

The parties did not bargain for the facts to be found by a court, but by an arbitrator chosen by them . . . Nor does the fact that it is inquiring into a possible violation of public policy excuse a court for doing the arbitrator's task.

Id.

Finally, in words reminiscent of its discussion more than a quarter century earlier in Enterprise Wheel ( supra at 1208-1209), the Court reaffirmed the deference to be afforded an arbitrator's choice of remedy:

Had the arbitrator found that [the employee] had possessed drugs on the property, yet imposed discipline short of discharge because he found as a factual matter that [he] could be trusted not to use them on the job, the Court of Appeals could not upset the award because of its own view that public policy about plant safety was threatened.

108 S.Ct. at 374.

The Misco court expressly reaffirmed Grace in rejecting the notion that there existed any "broad judicial power to set aside arbitration awards as against public policy." 108 S.Ct. at 373. More important for our purposes, it explicitly contrasted the "broader view" of court power which it implicitly rejected later in the opinion with the "narrower view" taken historically in this circuit and the D.C. Circuit. 108 S.Ct. at 369 n. 7, 373 (citing Bevles Co. v. Teamsters Local 986, 791 F.2d 1391 (9th Cir. 1986), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 985, 108 S.Ct. 500, 98 L.Ed.2d 499 (1987), and Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. Air Line Pilots Ass'n Int'l, 808 F.2d 76 (D.C.Cir. 1987), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 108 S.Ct. 1751, 100 L.Ed.2d 213 (1988)). Our "narrow view" is one we reemphasize today.

In Bevles, we refused to vacate an arbitrator's award on public policy grounds, noting both the limited nature of our review of such awards in general and the failure of the employer challenging the award to meet the "explicit, well defined and dominant" public policy standard set forth in Grace. 791 F.2d at 1392-93 n. 2. Bevles sits squarely within a line of cases in which we have adhered to a narrow construction of the public policy exception. See e.g. Orange Belt, 774 F.2d at 990 (quoting and citing George Day Construction Co., 722 F.2d 1471, 1477 (9th Cir. 1984)). Cf. American Postal Workers, 682 F.2d at 1286 (arbitration award will not be enforced if it would force a party to perform a manifestly illegal act).

The case most critical to our decision today is Amalgamated Transit Union v. Aztec Bus Lines, 654 F.2d 642, 643-44 (9th Cir. 1981) (per curiam) (" Aztec Bus Lines"). In Aztec Bus Lines, we refused to vacate the award of an arbitrator who had ordered reinstatement following a suspension for a bus driver who had knowingly driven a bus whose faulty brakes caused it to "dive and rock." In that case, the driver had even been advised by a police officer not to continue to operate the bus "if there was any question as to its safety." 654 F.2d at 643. Although the case preceded both Misco and Grace, we recognized that Enterprise Wheel itself forbade judicial reevaluation of the arbitrator's chosen remedy and that the employer's claim that reinstatement would violate public policy was flawed and inadequate. In words that foreshadow our decision today, we wrote:

[N]o California statute has been called to our attention which would make it illegal to employ bus drivers who have previously shown bad judgment. Furthermore, the arbitrator did not approve of [the bus driver's] behavior. He merely concluded that, under the circumstances, a two week suspension without pay rather than outright dismissal was an adequate sanction. Even if we agreed with the employer that a more severe sanction was appropriate, we are not permitted to review the merits of an arbitral award. Public policy should not be turned into "a facile method of substituting judicial for arbitral judgment."

Id. at 644 (quoting Dunau, Three Problems in Labor Arbitration, 55 Va.L.Rev. 427, 446 (1969)) (citation omitted).

III.

We turn, then, to Gale Rocks, the loose lugs and the arbitrator's reinstatement of him after a one hundred-twenty day suspension. We must now apply the general rules with respect to arbitral awards, and our review of them, discussed above. In so doing, we must follow the dictates of Grace and Misco and this circuit's "narrow view" of the judicial power to vacate an arbitral award on public policy grounds.

As we see this case, application of the public policy exception ultimately presents one specific question: does the arbitrator's order reinstating (following a disciplinary suspension) an auto mechanic who committed a reckless act violate an "explicit, well defined and dominant" public policy? We think the answer to this question is clearly in the negative.

Leaving for discussion below whether the purported public policy articulated by the panel which originally heard this case satisfied the Grace-Misco standard, we consider briefly the first inquiry courts must make in cases of this kind — an inquiry often neglected. Simply put, a public policy in favor of or against what? In our view, only one answer comports with Misco, and with our narrow rule. If a court relies on public policy to vacate an arbitral award reinstating an employee, it must be a policy that bars reinstatement. Courts cannot determine merely that there is a "public policy" against a particular sort of behavior in society generally and, irrespective of the findings of the arbitrator, conclude that reinstatement of an individual who engaged in that sort of conduct in the past would violate that policy. In our view, a faithful reading of Misco requires something more. A court must both delineate an overriding public policy rooted in something more than "general considerations of supposed public interests," and, of equal significance, it must demonstrate that the policy is one that specifically militates against the relief ordered by the arbitrator. See Misco, 108 S.Ct. at 374; see also Grasselli Emp. Ass'n, 790 F.2d at 615-16 (7th Cir. 1986) (refusing to second-guess arbitrator's reinstatement order given employer's failure to show that reinstatement would, in itself, violate public policy).

Ordinarily, a court would be hard-pressed to find a public policy barring reinstatement in a case in which an arbitrator has, expressly or by implication, determined that the employee is subject to rehabilitation and therefore not likely to commit an act which violates public policy in the future. As Misco recognized, an arbitral judgment of an employee's "amenability to discipline" is a factual determination which cannot be questioned or rejected by a reviewing court. 108 S.Ct. at 374; see also United States Postal Serv. v. National Ass'n of Letter Carriers, 839 F.2d 146, 149 (3d Cir. 1988). Judgments about how a specific employee will perform after reinstatement if given a lesser sanction are nothing more than an exercise of the arbitrator's broad authority to determine appropriate punishments and remedies. See Misco, 108 S.Ct. at 372; Enterprise Wheel, 363 U.S. at 597, 80 S.Ct. at 1361 (general proposition that courts must allow an arbitrator to use his "informed judgment . . . to reach a fair solution of a problem" is "especially true when it comes to formulating remedies"); supra at 1208. This rule is supported by the significant societal interest in the rehabilitation of workers who err in the workplace. All of us benefit from employees who perform their jobs safely and properly. All of us suffer when potentially productive workers are relegated to the unemployment lines.

Ours is one of the cases of which Misco spoke. Arbitrator Le Prohn indicated that Rocks could be rehabilitated, stating that "[d]iscipline is aimed at rehabilitation; reinstatement with a one-hundred and twenty (120) day [sic] suspension should serve as an object lesson and impress upon [Rocks] that he is required to follow instructions and perform his job duties fully and carefully." In the face of this statement, we are forbidden to substitute our judgment about Rocks' susceptibility to rehabilitation or about whether 120 days, as opposed to 90 days, 150 days, or forever, is the length of "non-employment" necessary to ensure that he learns his "object lesson."

Bearing in mind what we have emphasized already about the character of arbitrators' written awards, it should be clear that we do not require an express "finding" that a grievant can be rehabilitated or, to borrow from the Misco court, is otherwise "amenabl[e] to discipline." See supra at 1210. We apply the same deferential review to an award's statements concerning rehabilitation that we apply to other aspects of the award. Even if we were to view the reference to rehabilitation in the award as nothing more than an abstract observation, we would be required to reach the same result. A court cannot infer, from the mere fact that an award orders reinstatement but is silent on the subject of a grievant's rehabilitation or "amenability," that the arbitrator did not consider the question; nor can it make an independent judgment in such a case. Simply put, we look to the text of the arbitral award for an expression of an arbitrator's reasons for his decision, but we do not infer the non-existence of a particular reason merely from the award's silence on a given issue. Indeed, the Supreme Court has determined that a court cannot set aside an arbitrator's award which, far from merely being silent, was affirmatively ambiguous, and arguably supported a claim that the arbitrator had exceeded his authority. Enterprise Wheel, 363 U.S. at 598, 80 S.Ct. at 1361 (court cannot infer that arbitrator exceeded his authority merely because his award gives ambiguous support for the proposition). Unquestionably, then, Arbitrator Le Prohn's references to rehabilitation are more than sufficient.

There are two decisions by courts of appeals in other circuits that, even while acknowledging the proscriptions of Grace and Misco, have overturned arbitrators' orders of reinstatement on public policy grounds. Delta Air Lines v. Air Line Pilots Ass'n Int'l, 861 F.2d 665, 671-74 (11th Cir. 1988), and Iowa Elec. Light Power v. Local Union 204, of Int'l Bhd. of Elec. Workers, 834 F.2d 1424, 1427-29 (8th Cir. 1987). In Iowa Electric, the Eighth Circuit concluded that there was "a well defined and dominant national policy requiring strict adherence to nuclear safety rules," Id. at 1427, and refused to allow reinstatement of a nuclear power plant employee who had compromised a reactor safety system in order to leave for lunch early, despite an arbitrator's finding that termination for this "deliberate violation" was "too severe" a sanction. 834 F.2d at 1426. In Delta, the Eleventh Circuit vacated an arbitrator's order reinstating a commercial airline pilot who had flown his plane while drunk, finding a public policy sufficient to vacate the order of reinstatement from the fact that the laws of almost every state and the federal government made operating an aircraft while intoxicated illegal. 861 F.2d at 672-74.

These are "hard" cases, reflecting situations in which the lives of many people may have been directly placed at risk by the actions of the employees in question. Be that as it may, to the extent that these cases apply analyses inconsistent with our reading of Misco, we decline to follow them. On the other hand, it is possible that the Eighth and Eleventh Circuit results can be explained by reference to theories which, though unaddressed in Misco, are not necessarily inconsistent with it.

First, with respect to the Eighth Circuit's decision, it is conceivable that a court could, upon examining the regulatory scheme, conclude that a public policy exists with respect to the nuclear power industry barring reinstatement of anyone who has compromised a safety rule. It may be reasonable to infer, from a careful consideration of the nature and scope of the statutes and regulations themselves, a public policy both more strict and of far wider application than that applicable to other industries. We see support for this theory in the two Eighth Circuit cases dealing with nuclear power plants. In Iowa Electric, the court began its discussion of public policy with a detailed description of federal regulation of the industry, noting that the government had been "heavily involved in the planning, construction, and operation of nuclear plants since the enactment of the Atomic Energy Act and creation of the Atomic Energy Commission [the forerunner of the current Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)] in 1954." 834 F.2d at 1428. The "strict regulatory scheme," the court observed, had been "devised by Congress for the protection of the public from the hazards of nuclear radiation." Id. Federal involvement was so pervasive that "[a]ny violation of any rule" had to be reported to the NRC, which, in turn, was required to issue penalties against the facility. Id. Similarly, the other Eighth Circuit case dealing with the nuclear power industry, Daniel Construction Co. v. Local 257, IBEW, 856 F.2d 1174 (8th Cir. 1988), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 109 S.Ct. 1140, 103 L.Ed.2d 200 (1989), detailed the NRC's involvement in setting standards for nuclear plant security even to the point of issuing criteria for the administration of mandatory psychological tests for those who would be in "sensitive" positions within the plant. Id. at 1176. We need not, and do not, determine whether the unique safety concerns embodied in the regulations and statutes governing the nuclear power industry are sufficient to establish a public policy barring reinstatement of employees who commit safety violations. We merely offer one possible explanation for the Eighth Circuit's decision in Iowa Electric.

Second, although in a similar vein, the court in Iowa Electric was writing against a backdrop of explicit agency action with respect to the parties and the incidents in question. The NRC had explicitly reprimanded the employer for its employee's breach of reactor safety and approved the discharge. 834 F.2d at 1428. The validation of the employer's discharge decision by the federal regulator might reasonably be construed as an "explicit, well defined and dominant" expression of a public policy as applied to the facts of the case. Viewing the NRC's actions from this perspective, the arbitrator's reinstatement award might be said to have violated public policy, albeit the ad hoc one expressed through a specific regulatory determination regarding the grievant.

A similar rationale might also explain how, on its particular facts, the Eleventh Circuit's Delta panel could have reached the result it did and still have persuasively distinguished the apparently conflicting result of a decision of the D.C. Circuit (cited in Misco as illustrative of the narrow rule the Court ultimately approved, 108 S.Ct. at 369 n. 7) which ordered reinstatement of a commercial airline pilot who had admitted to flying his plane while drunk on several occasions. Northwest Airlines v. Air Line Pilots Ass'n, Int'l, 808 F.2d 76, 78-79 (D.C. Cir. 1987), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 108 S.Ct. 1751, 100 L.Ed.2d 213 (1988). There is an important factual difference between the two cases directly relevant to our discussion of the potential significance of specific agency action for individual public policy determinations. In Northwest, the Federal Aviation Administration ("FAA") had recertified the pilot following his completion of an alcohol rehabilitation program. This recertification represented a specific conclusion that, in the view of the federal regulator, the pilot was "fit and qualified to fly." 808 F.2d at 83. (Indeed, the arbitration board in that case had conditioned its reinstatement award on FAA recertification. Id.) In Delta, the FAA had suspended the grievant's license and medical certification, 861 F.2d at 668 n. 3, indicating that in its view he was neither "fit" nor "qualified" to do so. Taken together, the Iowa Electric, Delta, and Northwest cases would appear to support a notion that specific action by a regulatory or other administrative agency might provide some form of ad hoc "legal precedent" within the meaning of Grace and Misco sufficient to justify invalidation of an award on public policy grounds.

Notwithstanding the above, we must conclude that the Eleventh Circuit's opinion in Delta is, to a large extent, simply inconsistent with the law as expressed in Grace and Misco. The Eleventh Circuit did not rely on the FAA's determination, alluding to it only in passing in a footnote. 862 F.2d at 668 n. 3. Instead, the Delta court reasoned that, since what the pilot had done in flying drunk was illegal, the "performance of his employment [was] the very thing which offends public policy" and thus reinstatement was impermissible. 861 F.2d at 674. As we have explained, the critical inquiry is not whether the underlying act for which the employee was disciplined violates public policy, but whether there is a public policy barring reinstatement of an individual who has committed a wrongful act. Grace, 461 U.S. at 766, 103 S.Ct. at 2183; Misco, 108 U.S. at 373, supra at 1212-13. Besides being inconsistent with the Supreme Court's determination that it is enforcement of the award which must be deemed violative of public policy, we think the Eleventh Circuit's approach would produce, at best, curious results. If the performance of an illegal act while on the job is all that must be proved to demonstrate the violation of a public policy for purposes of Grace and Misco, then an arbitrator would be prohibited from reinstating any teamster who receives a speeding ticket while driving the company truck, or even an inventory clerk who commits a single act of petty theft. Grace and Misco do not countenance such results.

Returning to the rationales which, we suggested, might explain the results in Iowa Electric and Delta, we note that Rocks' case does not fit within either one. First, while the automotive repair industry is regulated by the state and while we do not minimize the risk that an improperly maintained automobile can cause injury to its occupants or to others, the nuclear power industry is unique both with respect to the magnitude of the risk that results from negligent or reckless employee conduct and the comprehensiveness of governmental regulation. Second, there has been no specific agency determination in Rocks' case. Stead Motors has never claimed that the Bureau of Automotive Repair or some other California regulatory entity has sought to terminate Rocks' right to work as a mechanic because of his conduct in relation to the lug bolt incident; nor has it contended that the agency has taken any action against it. These observations lead us to conclude that the Eighth and Eleventh Circuit cases, while thought provoking, are of at best marginal relevance to our inquiry.

We stand at last before the ultimate question: is there an explicit, well defined and dominant public policy in California that bars reinstatement of a mechanic who commits a reckless act in the course of his employment? Simply put, we think not.

We have found nothing in the record of this case, in the arguments of counsel, or in our inquiry into the "laws and legal precedents" of California which supports the existence of the specific public policy necessary to justify vacating the arbitral award in this case. The two sections of the California Code discussed above (at 1204) neither constitute the sort of laws and legal precedents necessary for the valid expression of an "explicit, well defined and dominant" public policy nor are they sufficiently directed at the type of problem before us. They do make it unlawful to operate a vehicle "which is in an unsafe condition" and they do establish a state bureau to inspect and certify auto repair facilities. Violations of the regulations promulgated by the bureau can be sanctioned in a variety of ways, the harshest of which is revocation of the facility's certification. See California Vehicle Code § 24002; Business and Professions Code § 9880, 9884.7. These provisions may signify the legislature's perception of a broad public interest in safe cars and trucks; as such they would represent the state's general policy, the expression of its "general consideration of supposed public interests." The provisions represent precisely what Misco and Grace tell us is insufficient to form an "explicit well defined and dominant" public policy. 461 U.S. at 766, 103 S.Ct. at 2183; 108 S.Ct. at 373.

More important, there has been no showing that Rocks' reinstatement violates public policy. To borrow and modify the language of Aztec Bus Lines, "no California [policy] has been called to our attention which would make it illegal to employ [an auto mechanic] who h[as] previously [committed a reckless act]." 654 F.2d at 644. As we explained supra at 1215, we reject the approach of the Eleventh Circuit that, simply because an employee has committed some act which violates a law or a public policy in the course of his employment, his reinstatement would also necessarily violate that public policy. This argument is fallacious, reflecting precisely the analytical error in Stead Motors' argument here, for it is only if the grievant is likely to engage in wrongful conduct which violates public policy in the future that his reinstatement could be said to violate public policy. If we assume the existence of the public policy posited by the original panel's opinion, it may be true that Rocks' conduct ran afoul of it in the past. But we are not free to assume that Rocks would, if appropriately disciplined, run afoul of it in the future. As we have emphasized throughout, it is the function of the arbitrator, not the courts, to make assessments with respect to appropriate punishments and to determine the likelihood of rehabilitation — a judgment about whether the grievant will engage in future wrongdoing, supra at 1208-09, 1211, 1212-13. With respect to the award we consider here, we have already made clear that Arbitrator Le Prohn conclusively determined the issue of rehabilitation in Rocks' favor.

There are two possible alternative explanations for the result reached by the district court. Both are illegitimate. First, the district court might have concluded that the arbitrator's decision in favor of a 120 day suspension was insufficient, as a retributive matter, to punish a once-reckless employee sufficiently and that the general public policy it had ostensibly identified (but did not articulate, supra n. 5) could be served only through the ultimate employee sanction, termination. To the extent that this, or similar second-guessing, motivated the district court, we must reiterate, now for the final time, that if the court so acted it acted improperly.

Second, it is possible that the court felt that the arbitrator's belief that a suspension would teach Rocks a lesson was erroneous. Although from one perspective, one cannot quarrel with a judge who honestly believes that a reinstated employee may be reckless in the future, Misco explicitly advises that upsetting the arbitrator's award on this ground is impermissible, however laudable the judge's motivation. Courts are strictly barred from engaging in fact-finding when they review labor arbitration awards. Again to paraphrase, this time Misco:

Had the arbitrator found that Rocks had been reckless in improperly tightening the lug bolts, yet imposed discipline short of discharge because he found as a factual matter that he could be trusted not to do so in the future, the Court of Appeals could not upset the award because of its own view that public policy about automobile safety was threatened.

108 S.Ct. at 374.

The parties did not bargain for a court's judgment. They bargained for an arbitrator to tell them what was "just cause" for discharge and what was not. In so doing, they chose a method of resolving their differences and definitively interpreting their bargain. Each side obtained certain advantages from the arrangement. Neither had the right to believe that it could refuse to honor an arbitrator's award simply because it was disappointed by or disagreed with the result in a particular case. We find that the arbitrator did everything the parties requested him to do; he did nothing more, and nothing he did was illegal or violated public policy. Our inquiry goes no further.

REVERSED and REMANDED with instructions to confirm the award.