Section 180-13-26 - Appointment of Fact Finders The executive director shall appoint a panel of fact finders in accordance with this rule, whether the request is a joint request for fact finders from the Board of Arbitration and Conciliation (BAC) or a request for private fact finders.
1.Board of Arbitration and Conciliation (BAC). When the executive director has received a joint request for fact-finding services from members of the BAC, the executive director may first bill the parties for the estimated costs in accordance with section 27 of this Chapter. Once one party has paid its share, the executive director shall appoint the fact-finding panel from the three categories of BAC members.2.Private Fact Finders. When there is a request for private fact finders, the executive director shall appoint these fact finders by making reference to three lists of fact finders maintained by the Maine Labor Relations Board, marked "Management Representative Fact Finders," "Employee Representative Fact Finders" and "Neutral-Chair Fact Finders." The executive director shall submit the current list of employee fact finders to the bargaining agent and the current list of management fact finders to the public employer. After receipt of such lists, each party shall notify the executive director of the names, in order of preference, of no more than 5 persons from the list of fact finders which that party prefers to have appointed to the fact-finding panel. The executive director will make every effort to comply with the parties' wishes in appointing the employee and management representatives to the fact-finding panel, but is not required to do so. The executive director shall select one person from each of the lists provided by the parties to serve on the fact-finding panel and shall select one person from the "Neutral-Chair Fact-Finders" list to be chair of the panel.12- 180 C.M.R. ch. 13, § 26