1Political Ideology and Labor Arbitrators’ Decision Making in Work–Family Conflict Cases

estimated one third of workers in a recent study—is responsible for caring for elderly parents and in-laws (Bond, Thompson, Galinsky, & Prottas, 2002). The public law has responded to these demographic changes in many ways. Most visible is the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) of 1993, which requires employers (of 50 or more employees) to grant employees up to 12 work weeks of unpaid leave during any 1-year period for care of a newborn, adopted, or foster child; care of an immediate family member with a serious health condition; or medical leave for the employee’s own serious health condition. Other legal developments, although not as visible as the FMLA, reflect recognition of these broader societal changes. For example, in Prickett v. Circuit Science Inc. (1994), the Minnesota Supreme Court overruled prior case law and held that a single father discharged for refusing a shift change because he could not find child care was entitled to unemployment benefits. The court rejected the employer’s argument that the claimant was disqualified because he had been ter-minated for willful misconduct. The court wrote that “to hold otherwise would be to ignore significant facts about the world today ” (p. 605)