(a) At any time prior to mandated final best-offer arbitration, either the employer or the employe organization may request final best-offer arbitration unless fact-finding has been initiated as provided in section 1122-A. If fact-finding has been initiated, the parties shall complete fact-finding before requesting final best-offer arbitration. If either party requests final best-offer arbitration, the requesting party shall notify the Bureau of Mediation, the board and the opposing party in writing. The opposing party shall, within ten (10) days of the notification by the requesting party, notify the requesting party in writing of its agreement or refusal to submit to final best-offer arbitration. No strikes or lockouts shall occur during this ten (10) day period or until the requesting party is notified by the opposing party that they refuse to submit to final best-offer arbitration. Arbitration provided for in this subsection shall only occur if both parties agree to submit to final best-offer arbitration.

(b) If a strike by employes or a lockout by an employer will prevent the school entity from providing the period of instruction required by section 1501 by the later of:

the parties shall submit to mandated final best-offer arbitration consistent with the arbitration option negotiated. A return to work for the purpose of submitting to final best-offer arbitration shall not be considered a unilateral return to work.

(c) If the parties are unable to agree on the adoption of one of the approved impasse procedures under section 1123-A,¹ the mediator appointed pursuant to section 1121-A² shall select the procedure.

(d) Within ten (10) days of submission to final best-offer arbitration, the parties shall submit to the arbitrators their final best contract offer with certification that the offer was delivered to the opposing party, together with documentation supporting the reasonableness of their offer. This documentation shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

(e) Arbitration shall be limited to unresolved issues. Unresolved issues shall mean those issues not agreed to in writing prior to the start of arbitration.

(f) The parties may mutually agree to submit to final best-offer arbitration at any time except during fact-finding or during mandated final best-offer arbitration.

(g) Upon submission to the arbitrator of both parties' final best offers under subsection (a) or (b), the employer shall post, within the time limits described in subsection (d), the final best contract offers in the school entity's main office for the purpose of soliciting public comments thereon. Copies of both parties' final best offers shall be available from the school entity's main office. The cost of copies shall be established by the school entity and shall be paid by the requestor.

(h) The public comment period shall close within ten (10) days of the first day of posting. All public comments shall be directed to the arbitrators for consideration who shall provide them on request to the employer and to the employes' organization.

(i) Within ten (10) days of the selection of the third arbitrator of the arbitration panel, the arbitrators shall begin hearings at which they will hear arguments from representatives of the employer and of the employes in support of their respective last best contract offers under subsection (a) or (b). At least five (5) days prior to the hearing, a written notice of the date, time and place of such hearing shall be sent to the representatives of both the employer and employes which are parties to the dispute. This written notice shall also be sent to the fiscal authority having budgetary responsibility or charged with making appropriations for the employer, and a representative designated by such body shall be heard at the hearing upon request of such body or of the employer as part of the presentation of the employer.

(j) Not later than twenty (20) days after the hearing pursuant to subsection (i), the arbitrators shall:

(k) The determination of the majority of the arbitrators reached as provided under either subsection (a) or (b) shall be final and binding upon the employer, employes and employe organization involved and constitutes a mandate to the school entity to take whatever action necessary to carry out the determination, provided that within ten (10) days of the receipt of the determination the employe organization or the employer does not consider and reject the determination at a properly convened special or regular meeting. This determination includes, but is not limited to, a determination which requires a legislative enactment by the employer prior to or as a condition for its implementation, including, without limitation, the levy and imposition of taxes.

(l) No appeal challenging the determination reached as provided under subsection (a) or (b) shall be allowed to any court unless the award resulted from fraud, corruption or wilful misconduct of the arbitrators. If a court determines that this has occurred, it shall declare the award null and void. An appeal of the award shall be made to the court of common pleas of the judicial district encompassing the respective school district.

(m) If the employer or the employe organization rejects the determination of the majority of the arbitrators: